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QUEEN VICTORIA AT THE TIME OF HER GOLDEN JUBILEE 



LIFE AND TIMES 

OF 

QUEEN VICTORIA 

COISTTAINING A 

FULL ACCOUNT OF THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS REIGN OF ANY 
SOVEREIGN IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD 

INCLUDING THE 

EARLY LIFE OF VICTORIA; HER ACCESSION TO THE THRONE 

AND CORONATION; MARRIAGE TO PRINCE ALBERT; GREAT 

EVENTS DURING HER BRILLIANT REIGN; PERSONAL 

TRAITS AND CHARACTERISTICS THAT 

ENDEARED HER TO HER PEOPLE 

GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF HER CHARMING HOME LIFE; NOBLE 

QUALITIES AS WIFE AND MOTHER; ROYAL CASTLES; 

PUBLIC RECEPTIONS; WONDERFUL GROWTH 

OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, ETC. 

TO WHICH IS ADDED 

THE LIFE OF KING EDWARD VIL, AND SKETCHES OF THE 
MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY 

By ARTHUR LAWRENCE MERRILL, B. A. 

Graduate of University of Torouto, Author of " Ivife of Sir Wilfred Laurier," etc. 
In Collaboratioti with REV. HENRY DAVENPORT NORTHROP, D. D, 

WITH EULOGIES OF THE QUEEN BY LORD SALISBURY, MARQUIS 

OF LANSDOWNE, LORD ROSEBERY, LORD KIMBERLEY 

AND MANY OTHER LEADING STATESMEN 

Embellished with more than 100 Superb Engravings of 
Historic Scenes, Portraits^ Etc ' ' " *' ' ' ■ 



NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. 

2;]9, 241, 24?> South American St. 
Philadelphia 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Copies Received 

MAR 15 1901 

Copyright entry 

CLASS CL,XXc. N». 

COPY B. 



EMTEHED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CO^GRE88, IN THE YEAR 1901, BY 

D. Z. HOWELL 

IS THE OFFICE OF THE LI13HARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WA8HINQTON, D. C. , U, S. A. 



PREFACE. 



For more tlian sixty years Queen Victoria was regarded by 
tlie whole woild as a model Sovereign and the noblest type of 
woman. Her vast influence was always exerted for the welfare of 
her people and the good of mankind. She was admired as a ruler 
and beloved as a woman. It is not enough to speak of her as 
Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India. She 
was the queen of her home and domestic circle, and the jewels of 
her crown were not brighter than the virtues that adorned her 
character and endeared her to her people. 

During the two generations in which she occupied the throne 
Great Britain became a world power. The map of nations was 
changed and Anglo-Saxon civilization was carried to the earth's 
remotest bounds. In this work, which gives a full and graphic 
account of the life and times of Queen Victoria, we have fully de- 
scribed the vast changes which occurred during the reign of Brit- 
ains most beloved and illustrious sovereign. The great political 
movements are sketched ; the extension of her dominions is de- 
picted and the volume is in every respect worthy of its renowned 
subject and the important era in which she lived. It is a glowing 
history and has an absorbing interest for English-speaking people 
everywhere. 

This work fully describes the last days of her Majesty ; the 
profound impression made everywhere by the news of her alarm- 
ing illness ; the hurrying of royalty to her bedside ; the breathless 
suspense with which intelligence was awaited, and the great shock 
with which the world received the news of Victoria's death. 

Reminiscences of the Queen and all members of the royal 
household, together with incidents of thrilling interest, fill the 
pages of this volume. The reader is conducted into the royal 
palace and there beholds the closing scenes in the life of the t 
world's most distinguished ruler. 

The work recounts the changes that took place in the British 
empire while she was Sovereign. The names of the great English 

iii 



h PREFACE. 

statesmen and the part they acted find full place in these pages. 
Palmerston, Gladstone, John Bright, Cobden, Disraelli, Lord Derby, 
Lord Rosebery, Chamberlain, Lord Roberts, and many others are 
fully described. 

Queen Victoria had an intimate knowledge of all the affairs 
of her government, and there were great crises during her reign 
when her good sense shaped the policy of the nation, and subse- 
quent events proved her wisdom. Her influence was always on 
the side of peace, and the following tribute by the poet Watson 
is one of which she was universally acknowledged to be worthy : 

" Queen, that from Spring to Autumn of thy reign, 
Hast taught thy people how 'tis queenlier far, 
Than any golden pomp of peace, or war. 
Simply to be a woman without stain." 

Very beautiful are the accounts of domestic life shared by 
the Queen and the Prince Consort. He was a man of noble char- 
acter, genial disposition, well acquainted with the affairs of state 
and was greatly beloved. His biography forms a most interesting 
part of this work. 

The Queen's life in the Highlands — its simplicity, its homeli- 
ness and beauty — are fully described. Long after the death of 
Prince Albert she revered his memory and placed floral wreaths 
upon his tomb. A model as a Sovereign and none the less so as a 
woman, she held the strongest place in the heart of the world of 
any sovereign of modern times. 

The nearly sixty-four years that cover the reign of Victoria 
form the most important epoch of English history. As the Nine- 
teenth Century is the grandest of all the centuries, so the events 
and discoveries that made it glorious add to the glory of the Brit- 
ish empire. No life of the Queen would be complete without describ- 
ing the world's progress during her long and brilliant reign. This 
volume is replete with all the sublime events and political and 
social changes which give immortal renown to the Nineteenth 
Century. It contains a full biography of King Edward VII, the 
future monarch of the empire, on which the sun never sets ; also 
eulogies of the Queen by the world's greatest rulers and statesmen. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

CHAPTER I. 
ALAEMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAT. PALACE 17 

CHAPTER II. 
LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QLTEEN 35 

CHAPTER III. 
THE VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH 52 

CHAPTER IV. 
PERSONAL HISTORY OF QUEEN VICTORIA 80 

CHAPTER V. 
ADDITIONAL DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE 99 

CHAPTER VI. 
THE QUEEN'S MARRIAGE WITH PRINCE ALBERT 125 

CHAPTER VII. 
EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S LONG AND PROSPEROUS REIGN 153 

CHAPTER VIII. 
WONDERFUL ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE REIGN OF VICTORLA. 177 

CHAPTER IX. 
TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN 188 

CHAPTER X. 
INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE 205 

CHAPTER "XI. 
VICTORIA'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND 221 

CHAPTER XII. 

REMARKABLE FORTITUDE OF THE WIDOWED MONARCH 236 

V 



^^ CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER XIII. 
VICTORIA QUEEN AND EMPRESS 249 

CHAPTER XIV. 
A SOVEREIGN WHO REIGNS BY LOVE 258 

CHAPTER XV. 

STORIES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY 267 

CHAPTER XVI. 
THE QUEEN AN EXAMPLE TO HER PEOPLE 275 

CHAPTER XVII. 
HOW VICTORIA PREVENTED WAR BETWEEN AMERICA AND GREAT 

BRITAIN 288 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LTFE , 297 

CHAPTER XIX. 
THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS 315 

CHAPTER XX. 
THE MEMORIALS AT BALMORAL 331 

CHAPTER XXI. 
THE QUEEN'S DAILY LIFE AT BALMORAL 342 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE QUEEN'S HUNTING LODGES . 352 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
CHILD LIFE AT BALMORAL CASTLE 363 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY 369 

CHAPTER XXV. 

FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA 38f 



\ 



CONTENTS. Vii 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
ENGLAND'S QUEEN LAID TO REST WITH IMPOSING CEREMONIES .... 395 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
STA.TELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH 406 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES 421 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED 437 

CHAPTER XXX. 
BIOGRAPHY OF KING EDWARD 450 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF.. THE KING 461 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
POWERS OF GREAT BRITAIN'S SOVEREIGN 473 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
THE NEW QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN 484 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
NEW HEIR APPARENT AND THE SUCCESSION TO THE THRONE 495 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
CAREERS OF PRINCES OF WALES 606 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 
THE NEW KING AND HIS ROYAL MOTHER .518 

CHAPTER XXXVII 

THE KING IN MAGNIFICENT STATE OPENS PARLIAMENT 529 




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^ THE QUEEN ATTENDING TO THE MORNING'S NEWS 




PART I. 
Queen Victoria and Her Reign. 



CHAPTER I. 

Alarming News from the Royal Palace. 

ON January 19, 1901, the following bulletin was issued from 
Osborne, the royal residence of Queen Victoria on the Isle 
of Wight: "The Queen is suffering from great physical 
prostration, accompanied by symptoms which cause much anxiety." 
The bulletin was signed by the Queen's medical attendants, 
A. Douglass Powell and James Reid. The bulletin was posted at 
the Mansion House in London at three o'clock and attracted 
crowds of people, whose faces sufficiently attested their deep 
concern. The people thereafter stood about in knots, discussing 
the bulletin and waiting further news. 

During the course of the afternoon sinister rumors commenced 
to circulate of the death of Her Majesty, but at four o'clock Lord 
Edward Pelham-Clinton, the Master of the Queen's Household, 
telegraphed to Buckingham Palace that the Queen's condition was 
unchanged since the noon bulletin was issued. The Duke of Con- 
naught was summoned by telegraph from Berlin, where he was 
attending the Prussian bi-centenary celebration. 

The inner circle of the Cabinet met under the presidency of 
Lord Salisbury. While it was announced that the occasion was 
2 17 



18 ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 

merely an ordinary meeting of the Defence Committee of the 
Ministry there was good reason to believe it was more directly con- 
nected with the serious news from Osborne. The gravest informa- 
tion came from a high medical authority in regard to the health of 
the Queen. The symptoms of a malady which would be curable in 
the case of a person enjoying youth and a good constitution 
appeared, and caused the most serious apprehensions in the minds 
of the medical advisers in attendance. 

The nearest members of the royal family, including the Prince 
of Wales and the Princess Louise, cancelled all their engagements 
and went to Osborne. Sir James Reid, physician extraordinary to 
Her Majesty, was in constant attendance on the Queen, and Sir 
Francis Henry Laking, surgeon, was also summoned to Osborne. 

OLDEST ENGLISH SOVEREIGN. 

On January i8th the Queen passed the date when she became 
the oldest sovereign that ever reigned in Kngland, having lived 
eighty-one years and 239 days, which was exactly the age of her 
grandfather George HI. The Queen's reign had been so long and 
her hold upon the aflfections of ever^^ one of her subjects was so 
strong that she became in the popular heart the personification of 
the enduring empire over which she held sway. Never before had 
the possibility of her death been discussed as a factor in any ques- 
tion, political, social or otherwise, in this country. What more 
touching evidence than that could be given by an unemotional, 
calculating people of the estimation in which they held their aged 
sovereign ? 

Suddenly the subject of her demise was forced upon them. 
The alarming rumors of the previous two or three weeks gave place 
to knowledge only too well authenticated, and it was impossible to 
longer deny that Her Majesty was seriously ill. The collapse of 
her energies began with the recent death of Dowager Lady 
Churchill, senior lady of the bedchamber. Her Majesty's oldest and 
most intimate friend. The collapse first took the form of nervous 
depression and melancholia. Symptoms of catarrh of the stomach 
appeared a few days before, and although there was a slight amel- 



ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL tALACE. 19 

ioration of this malad}^, her general condition showed a steady 
decline, which greatly alarmed her medical attendants. 

It must be remembered that the Queen for many years had 
shown a chronic tendency toward difficulty in breathing, which had 
been combatted by her spending hours in the open air daily in all 
sorts of weather. Her drives were kept up almost to the last. 
Their abandonment was in itself a serious matter. There was 
reason to fear that the Victorian era had almost closed, and that 
the woman whose days had passed the limit of those of any 
previous British sovereign must soon lay down the sceptre of the 
Empire on which the sun never sets. 

RELEASED FROM PUBLIC DUTIES. 

The following was issued on the night of January i8th, by 
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Arthur John Bigge, Her Majesty's private 
secretary : " The Queen during the past year has had a great 
strain upon her powers, which has told upon Her Majesty's 
nervous system. It has, therefore, been thought advisable by Her 
Majesty's physicians that the Queen should be kept perfectly quiet 
in the house and should abstain for the present from the trans- 
action of business. " 

An eye-witness of the scene in London when the news of the 
Queen's approaching death was made public, thus describes the 
gloom that overshadowed the entire populace : 

" To-day has been a sad one for England. I have seen 
London in time of great catastrophe, as only a little while ago 
when Englishmen were being mown down in the Transvaal, but 
never have I seen emotion such as I witnessed this day. Love for 
the Queen has been reflected all day in the saddest lot of faces it 
would be possible to meet. It may be said that the English are a 
sad race. You should see them to-day, for there is none but 
believes that the end is nigh. Only a few minutes ago the rumor 
v/ent round that the Queen was dead and that her death was being 
concealed. 

I stepped into a fashionable house, where a bridge party was 
going on. Although always full of daylight, as usual, when the 



^6 ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 

all-absorbing game wa.s played, the curtains were drawn and artifi- 
cial light was turned on. All stopped to hear the news. " Very 
serious," "Poor Queen," were the comments, and conversation 
turned to the question what kind of a King the Prince of Wales 
would make and how he would get on with the Kaiser. Thus 
they talked in the yellow light. Those were the worldly people. 
With the working middle class the talk was different. It was this 
kind of thing : ''The Queen is ill," " She's going to die," " Don't 
say that, what would old England do without the Queen ?" That 
class appears simply unable to realize such a contingency as the 
death of the Queen. It will not hear of it. 

" The clubs were full and members swarmed around the tele- 
graph boards each time a new dispatch was put up. The first 
bulletin came about two o'clock in the afternoon and told the whole 
story in fourteen words. Surely those royal doctors are past 
masters in the art of precise writing, but all understood. The 
papers had tried yesterday to make light of the matter, and even 
this morning had said the trouble was not serious. Some went so 
far as to say that no instructions had been given the Southwestern 
Railroad to be prepared for any emergency, that the Prince was 
going down to Sandringham, and it was a false alarm. 

ROYAL FAMILY SUMMONED. 

" Then of a sudden all this was reversed. One after another 
telegrams began to appear on the boards. First the Prince was 
going down to Osborne. Another said the Princess had been 
hastily summoned from the country. But the one that struck club 
men most with the seriousness of the situation stated the German 
Kmperor was expected at Osborne. All the rest of the family, it 
was admitted, might go without the case being too serious, but the ' 
Kaiser, that was quite another thing. 

" As I write, early in the morning, men who usually get to 
bed early, nurse illnesses or mention their health are sitting up 
hour after hour waiting for news. The Sunday newspaper staffs 
will get no rest at all. They will maintain a constant vigil. The 
staffs of some of the afternoon papers are also alert with a view to 




CORONATION OF QUEEN VICTORIA 



ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 21 

getting out special editions. Their doors are being crowded by 
hawkers, who, with the keenness of their race, scent special news 
with which they might flood the town at any moment. 

" Fleet street was a sight to behold in the afternoon. There 
was a great display of bills in the hands of newspaper sellers, 
which were covered with huge letters. All bore the same ominous 
statements, ' Dangerous Illness of Queen,' ^ Condition More 
Serious.' The papers doubled their usual sales. One dispatch 
told of dangerous internal complications which had been added to 
her other troubles. 

" Lord Salisbury was caught at the Foreign Office. He denied 
that he had any advices which confirmed the report brought to him 
that Her Majesty had died. All the Ministers are in town, for, of 
course, if anything happened, a meeting would at once be held and 
a regency declared, since no monarch can ascend the English 
throne without the assent of Parliament. The Prince, I heard, 
looked fearfully anxious when he started on his journey. 

GREAT ANXIETY FOR NEWS. 

'* In the theatres, between the acts, there was a general rush 
out to buy papers and find out whether extra specials had appeared. 
At half-past eleven o'clock in the evening the streets were swept 
with an avalanche of boys who ran, screaming at the top of their 
lungs, news which might have been anything. This sent a thrill 
of anxiety through the town, but it was merely the reassuring 
statement, if any can so be called, that there was a slight improve- 
ment, but the condition of Her Majesty was most grave. The 
Foreign Office is deluged with telegrams." 

In accordance with the constitutional practice of Great Britain 
it is necessary that when the sovereign is incapacitated from the 
transaction of the business of the State, Parliament should meet at 
the earliest possible moment to appoint a regency. In accordance 
with the request of the Cabinet the Prince of Wales assumed such 
powers as were absolutely necessary to insure that there should be 
no break in the executive functions of the sovereign. 

An immense amount of State documents req^uire the authon- 



22 ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 

zation of the royal sign manual. When George III. became mentally 
afflicted the then Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV.. assumed 
the regency as heir to the throne, receiving confirm aijjiion of his acts 
so far exercised in this capacity by Parliament, especially convoked 
for the purpose. The precedent was one to be followed in the event 
of the Queen lingering for any length of time. It is remarkable 
that the Queen's vitality throughout her long reign was so extra- 
ordinar}?- that the occasion had never arisen until the present 
moment for the abdication of her executive functions. 

For three days the Queen had been kept strictly to herself. 
The last time she drove out, in Cowes, the rain beat down heavily 
upon her. Even the natives, who had grown to look upon Her 
Majesty as an ordinary person, noticed that she looked more 
delicate and shrunken than ever — a mere shadow of her former self 
— yet, v/ith feminine persistence, the Queen forbade those around 
her to say that she was ill. 

TROUBLES OF THE SOVEREIGN. 

The Victorian tradition and etiquette decreed that she was 
never ill, so with dogged determination she fought off the ravages 
that worry over the Boer war, deaths in her own family and 
increasing years had brought upon her. But against ruthless 
nature the imperial resolve proved futile, and with a pitiful realiza- 
tion of the inevitable she shut herself off from her retinue. For 
two nights she dined alone, and never stirred from the apartments 
she occupied at Osborne. 

Humbly — for this tiny woman ruled her court with no uncer- 
tain hand — her court officials implored her to seek medical advice. 
These messages she steadfastly ignored, and although her condition 
was admitted to be most serious, there were only in attendance Drs. 
Powell and Reid. Her Majesty lay helpless and almost speechless 
in her bed in Osborne House, surrounded by every comfort. Fruits, 
flowers, ice and all the accessories of modern medicine were at hand. 
Osborne House is buried amid a gloomy park of furs. It is brightly 
lit outside. The wind comes up from the Channel and surges 
through the trees like a dirge. 



ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 23 

A mile away stands the lodge. Beyond its portals none but 
the household can pass. On them, without the sovereign's 
knowledge, were posted bulletins announcing her condition. For 
all the excitement or interest evident locally, it might not have 
been known that a " Scottish Laird was dying in his mountain 
fastness. " Beyond the bulletins, nothing official was obtainable, 
but not a soul connected with Osborne House seemed to believe 
that Her Majesty could survive this attack. Never in the memory 
of her subjects had the Queen been ill before, and now at her 
advanced age she had been stricken, it seemed to those who lived 
around her that it was impossible for her to recover. The village 
wiseacres who had seen her from childhood, wagged their heads 
and said it was a sad day for England. 

The official bulletins may safely be described as optimistic. 
Their vagueness in describing the Queen's ailment were accepted 
as merely official evasions of the facts. The statement that it was 
paralysis from which the Queen was suffering was based upon the 
highest possible authority. The extreme weakness of Her Majesty 
and the loss of all her faculties appear to be the chief cause for 
anxiety. Stimulants were being freely administered. 

HER CONDITION NOT MADE KNOWN. 

In this connection it was learned that she was seriously 
ill when at Balmoral in the autumn. No word of this became 
public, but it appeared that she was then almost dying, though 
that rigorous etiquette which she imposed alike on her family 
and attendants prevented her condition being even spoken of as 
dangerous. The present stroke was a sequel to what occured at 
Balmoral. If she survived it she would prove herself to be not 
only the longest lived monarch in England's history, but also the 
possessor of the most marvelous constitution with which a woman 
was ever endowed. 

From a correspondent who had every facility for learning the 
situation from hour to hour we take the following graphic account 
under date of January 19th : 

" Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Empress of India lies 



24 ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE- 

on lier deathbed to-night in Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight. 
The Prince of Wales, who will be King Edward VII.^ and other 
members of the royal family are at the aged sovereign's bedside. 
The Emperor of Germany has been summoned. The Queen is in 
a critical condition, and how soon she will pass away none will 
venture to predict. The physicians and royal family have aban- 
doned all hope. The Queen's recuperative powers have failed, 
though her marvellous constitution may enable her to linger a 
short time. 

" After the physicians' report, instant messages were sent to 
Lord Salisbury and Home Secretary Ritchie, urging their of&cial 
attendance at Osborne House, to be present at the end. At one 
time during to-day the physicians feared almost immediate death. 
Then came a slight rally, reviving hopes that the aged sovereign 
may last some time. By the bedside are the Prince and Princess 
of Wales, the Duke of York, and the Princesses Louise, Beatrice, 
and Christian. In the ante-rooms are many of lesser rank. 
Scarcely anyone sleeps to-night at Osborne House. Each moment 
ij* one of extreme anxiety, hoping for the best, fearing the w^orst. 

EMPEROR OF GERMANY HURRYING TO OSBORNE. 

" Meantime, the Emperor of Germany, having dropped every 
public duty and cancelled every official function, is making the 
wildest royal dash across Europe ever seen, in order to reach his 
grandmother's bedside before it is too late. ' Make your best 
time !' was the order to the railway managers in Berlin, as the 
train started for Flushing, Holland. There the fast British cruiser 
meets the Emperor to take him direct to Cowes. All afternoon 
and evening the old royal yacht, 'Alberta,' has been speeding back 
and forth across the Solent from Portsmouth and Cowes, carrying 
the members of the royal family to Osborne House. A fierce gale 
stirred up the narrow channel, reduced royalty to the verge of sea- 
sickness and drenched its members with spray. 

"All this crisis came like a flash at noon, and all England 
mourns. The Queen's physician in the morning had issued a 
reassuring bulletin, and royalty had started to carry out its usuaJ 



ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 25 

social plans. The old Duke of Cambridge Had a Sunday dinner 
appointment in Paris, but before leaving London he made particu- 
lar inquiries as to whether there was any danger of death in the 
royal household at Osborne. Later, alarming dispatches came up 
to London that the Queen was at the point of death, and royalty 
dropped everything and fled toward Osborne as swiftly as special 
trains could carry them from every part of Bngland. A dozen 
messages flew after Cambridge to overhaul him on his way to Paris. 
"All round Europe went alarming tidings to the Kaiser, the 
Czar, the King of the Belgians, the King of Greece, the King of 
Denmark, and to all the scores of the Queen's descendants, princes 
great and small. The saddest of all was the message to the 
Queen's eldest daughter. Dowager Empress of Germany. She is 
too ill to move, and is believed to be destined soon to die herself 
The Cabinet ministers in London dropped all thoughts of African 
warfare, the Nicaragua treaties, and China complications. 

THE PREMIER AWAITING THE END. 

" Lord Salisbury remained at his of&ces far into the night to 
act the moment the Prime Minister might be summoned to perform 
his sad but great duty in saluting and proclaiming the new sover- 
eign in the last hour. No delays are allowed by law and custom, 
Avhich compel the Premier and the Home Secretary to salute the 
new monarch as soon as the djnng sovereign breathes her last 
breath. Lord Melbourne, the Premier, years ago awakened Vic- 
toria in the middle of the night to salute her as Queen. 

Sunday the 20th, began with a touching scene at the Royal 
Palace. Amid the bright sunshine, in marked contrast to the 
gloomy skies of Saturday, there drove out from the palace grounds 
a carriage containing wreaths for the tomb of Prince Henry of 
Battenberg in the little church at Whippingham, about ten 
minutes' drive from the royal residence. Then followed carriages 
containing the Princess of Wales, the Princess of Battenberg, 
Princess Louise and others, all dressed in the deepest black. The 
face of the Princess of Wales showed signs of the anxiety she was 
undergoing. 



26 ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 

The annual memorial service for Prince Henry, always a saa 
occasion, was more than usually sorrowful, for the shadow of a 
still greater bereavement was uppermost in all minds. The 
Princess of Wales and the Princess of Battenberg sobbed bitterly, 
and there was scarcely one of those royal heads bent in prayer 
that did not shake with a grief which could not be suppressed. 

The departure of the Prince of Wales for London, shortly 
at 12 o'clock to meet Emperor William, was quietly accomplished.^ 
The Queen had been informed of the Kaiser's coming, and had 
signified her desire that the Prince should go to meet him. 
Rather against his will, the man who for the moment was prac- 
tically the King of England, obeyed his mother's wishes. It was 
rumored that the Queen wanted the Emperor to postpone his 
visit to Osborne House, as she did not wish to receive him in her 
present condition. Apparently, in her lucid moments, she 
believed she would be able to conquer the dread disease which had 
fastened itself upon her. 

POPULACE ANXIOUS ABOUT THE QUEEN. 

During the afternoon the long hilly road to the palace 
grounds was crowded with people, particularly young men and 
women arrayed in their Sunday garb, dotting the landscape with 
vivid patches of color. The local gentry, after church service, 
wrote their names in the visitors' book at the lodge, which contains 
no signatures that would mean anything to the world outside of 
the Isle of Wight. 

Inquiries of importance all came by telegram, and these were 
legion. Hundreds of people, all sorts and conditions of men, 
clergymen predominating, flooded Cowes with telegrams asking 
for the latest news. A swarm of country people, among whom 
correspondents from all quarters of the globe mingled, ceaselessly 
converged toward the lodge gates. Their inquiries generally took 
the form of a timid "How is she?" addressed to the policemen, 
who barred all comers, and an inquirer who had been answered 
would be immediately surrounded by others less bold, who sought 
the news. 



ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 27 

When night fell the countryside became deserted, save for the 
newspaper watchers, who waited wearily in the lodge. In the 
distance could be seen the faint glimmer of the lights of the palace. 
Strict injunctions had been given to the court attendants and the 
Osborne House employees to make no answer to any inquiries 
except by referring to the official bulletins. Nevertheless any 
yokel who had ever been on an errand to the castle was willing to 
detail minutely what was wrong with the Queen. In fact, the 
most circumstantial stories of various ailments were currently 
accepted, where the fact of the Queen's paralytic stroke was 
generally unknown. 

' ' All English hearts are full of sorrow at the news of the 
Queen's serious illness. More than that cannot be said at this 
juncture." 

Lord Pauncefote, the British Ambassador at Washington, ex- 
pressed himself in this way on receiving the dispatch saying that 
the Queen was seriously ill and that the doctors affirmed that she 
was dying. 

"I am afraid," continued Lord Pauncefote, " that there is no 
hope. We have all here at the Embassy been profoundly touched 
by the news." 

GREAT ANXIETY AND SUSPENSE. 

Throughout the United Kingdom Sunday the 20th was a day 
of anxiety and suspense. No one in England, outside the circle of 
the court, knew the real condition of the Queen or the nature of her 
disease. The bulletins threw but little light on the universal question 
whether death was imminent. The London newspapers had not 
learned that Her Majesty had suffered a shock of paralysis. Extra 
editions of the Sunday papers contained no information beyond the 
official bulletins, but there were many of them, and they were 
eagerly bought. There were small gatherings in the vicinity of 
Buckingham Palace and Marlborough House, as well as other 
centres where the bulletins were posted. 

Crowds assembled to witness the arrival of Emperor William 
of Germany, grandson of Victoria. Apart from such incidents, 



28 ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 

however, the customary quiet of a London Sunday was not dis- 
turbed. The most alarming reports of the day came in the form of 
telegrams from the Princesses at Osborne House. The coming of 
Emperor William and the news that King Leopold was about 
starting for London inspired fears that death was at hand. 
On the other hand, the fact that the Prince of Wales was able to 
leave Osborne House had an encouraging effect. When the Prince 
arrived from Osborne at Victoria Station, London, at four o'clock, with 
Sir Francis Knollys attending, several hundred people were there 
to greet him. But there was no demonstration beyond a respectful 
raising of hats. The Earl of Clarendon and the Earl of Pembroke 
received the Prince. When they inquired regarding the Queen's 
condition, he replied : '' You see they have let me come away." 

CRUISER FOR THE GERMAN EMPEROR. 

The Government had arranged to send the fast cruiser Minerva 
to bring Emperor William, but he embarked on a mail packet for 
England before he learned of the plans, being accompanied by the 
Duke of Connaught. The steamer had a rough passage and on 
entering Sheerness Harbor she went by the warships without any 
ceremonies. Admiral Kennedy and Count von Mirbach, of the 
German Embassy, received the Emperor and escorted him to a 
special waiting room. 

Two hours before His Majesty's train was due in London 
people began to gather about Charing Cross Station. The crowd 
included not only the usual hangers-on, but many fashionable 
people and hundreds of Germans, anxious to see the Emperor on 
his first appearance in London for years. The throng became so 
large that the railroad authorities erected wooden barriers, and 
a hundred of the tallest police of the metropolitan force, with 
squads of mounted men, lined up the people on the streets, forming 
|a lane for two blocks, to Nelson's Monument, in Trafalgar Square. 
Through this lane moved a procession of royal carriages, each 
bearing two footmen in yellow liveries behind. The carriages entered 
the railway station and drew up near the track. 

The Prince of Wales arrived just before the train entered the 




THOMAS SULLY'S FAMOUS PORTRAIT OF THE QUEEN 



ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 29 

station, which was at 6.20 P. M, Duke of York, Prince Christian, 
Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein and Prince Arthur of Con- 
naught completed the group of royal personages. Emperor 
William stepped out of a saloon car, wearing a traveling suit and 
a soft hat. He saluted the Prince of Wales by kissing him on 
both cheeks, and the Prince returned a similar salutation. He 
then embraced the Duke of York, and shook hands with the others.- 
The people who looked on as the carriages drove off uncovered 
their heads, and Emperor William and the Prince of Wales 
acknowledged the courtesy by raising their hats. No cheers broke 
the mournful silence. 

PRAYERS IN ALL THE CHURCHES. 

The crowd in the vicinity of Buckingham Palace maintained 
the same demeanor when the Emperor and Prince of Wales entered 
the grounds. At 10 P. M. the Prince of Wales began a conversa- 
tion by telephone with Osborne House, which lasted nearly an hour. 
As a result of this the Emperor and the Prince decided to start for 
Osborne the next morning, the 21st. Orders were given that a 
royal yacht should be kept in waiting to convey them to the Isle 
of Wight. During the day the members of the Diplomatic Corps 
and other notable persons entered their names in the visitor's book 
at Buckingham Palace. 

In churches of all denominations prayers were offered at the 
morning services, and in most of them the latest bulletin regarding 
the Queen's condition was read. The chief rabbi requested special 
prayers. The following notice was read in the Roman Catholic 
Pro-Cathedral at Kensington : 

" The prayers of the congregation are asked for her Majesty, 
the Queen, the condition of whose health is a cause of anxiety and 
sorrow to us all. We pray that by God's help her Majesty's 
recovery may be speedy and complete." 

The Dean of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, read the prayer 
for a sick person when there is little hope of recover}^, beginning, 
" For as much as in all appearance the time of her dissolution 
draweth near." 



30 ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 

The bulletin issued at midnight was too late to become known " 
in London, except to a very few. This morning's newspapers 
threw off all pretense of any possibility of recovery, and they sadly 
admitted that the end might come at any moment. " While there 
is life there is hope," they said, and the Queen's constitution 
was marvelously strong ; but it was idle to deny that danger was 
extreme. 

Therefore, the papers proceeded to review her Majesty's long 
and illustrious reign as though she were no more, and to dilate 
upon the wonderful influence she wielded in European politics for 
so many years. " We all know," said one journal, " that there is 
danger of losing perhaps the greatest personal force of our times." 
Another recalled the fact that even Bismarck, who detested femi- 
nine interference in politics, formed an estimate of the Queen after 
a personal interview with her, which bordered on the idolatrous, 
and it added : " This is one of the most striking tributes ever paid 
to a great character." . 

EYES OF THE WORLD TURNED TO ENGLAND. 

A bright spot in the universal gloom was the unexpectedly 
prompt sympathy displayed by Bmperor William in giving up 
important engagements to come to the deathbed of his grandmother. 
This was calculated to endear his name to every Englishman. 

Speaking for the nation the London Times said : " There is 
but one sentiment to-day in the hearts of English-speaking people 
throughout the world. Their eyes are turned in keen anxiety to 
the sick bed where lies the venerable sovereign who commands not 
merely the royalty but the personal affection of countless millions. 
It needs no great medical knowledge to understand the meaning of 
the latest bulletin. We must admit, however, that all our hopes 
and fears are alike based upon very imperfect knowledge. We can 
only await the result and bear the painful suspense with such 
calmness and fortitude as we are able to summon to our aid. 

" History affords but few examples of rulers who have won the 
deep personal affection and regard enjoyed by our beloved Queen. 
Even among those not of our blood or speech, even among those 



ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 31 

who have little that is kind to say of the British people, there are 
unstinted sympathy and M^arm regard for the British Queen. 
Were we more like her, were our official and individual relations 
with foreigners carried on with more of her catholic urbanity and 
graciousness, who knows but that we, too, should win something 
of the kindly regard testified to-day in every foreign capital ?" 

Referring to the presence of the Kaiser, the Times said : " His 
presence is Germany's homage to those very human feelings and 
sympathies so uniformly displayed by the Queen. As such it will 
be understood here and be all the more honored and appreciated 
because it involves a certain lofty disregard of mere politics. As 
such we do not doubt it will be understood in all other countries, 
and it will be watched with respectful sympathy." 

PUBLIC TRIBUTES TO THE QUEEN. 

Similar testimony to Emperor William's touching action 
found place in almost all the editorials. One journal said : " If the 
Queen were aware of the German Emperor's arrival, the circum- 
stances could hardly fail to bring some satisfaction to her mind. 
It is a consolation, in this hour of national distress, to listen to the 
universal chorus of respectful esteem which Her Majesty's illness 
has evoked abroad. In the United States the progress of the 
patient has been watched as anxiously as in London, and the 
bitterest critics of England have only words of respect for Eng- 
land's Queen." 

Another journal said : " Out of the most reverent and profound 
respect for our sovereign we must stand silent before the soitow 
which holds us. The love and admiration of her subjects are, 
unhappily, of no avail. Nothing in these dark days, when sorrow 
is heavy on us, will have so sweet an effect on the minds of the 
fQueen's subjects throughout the world as the arrival of Emperor 
William." 

Still another said : " A precious and beloved existence hovers 
at last upon the brink of the great mystery. A life of lives is 
drooping toward the valley of shadow, and the empire waits in its 
silence and its sorrow. 



32 ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 

" But beyond the Empire are the unexampled sympathy, con- 
cern and wonderful homage of mankind. Emperor William, above 
all, has expressed all this wonderful feeling, not in word, but in 
act, with a truth and fervor of natural affection which England 
will never forget. It is one of the saddest circumstances of the 
hour that Empress Frederick is not able to be present. Therefore, 
Emperor William's presence is doubly dutiful, and at Osborne 
House it will be doubly dear." 

Proceeding to refer in detail to the sympathy displayed in all 
parts of the globe, it says : " For the American people the char- 
acter and domestic example of the Anglo-Saxon ideal. They have 
been regarded as hardly less the possession of the United States 
than of ourselves, and they have gone far to restore the moral 
unity of the race and to heal the worst effects of its political 

situation." 

PUBLIC FUNCTIONS ABANDONED. 

Some idea of the effect of the news of the Queen's illness ma}^ 
be gathered, when it is mentioned that one hotel management in 
Eondon countermanded no fewer than four hundred orders for din- 
ners and suppers for one night, and nearly six hundred for the 
next night. Several hunt county balls announced to take place 
were cancelled. Managers of theatres were terribl}^ anxious, for 
already the books were beginning to announce a large drop in 
the advance booking. It was the same everywhere. Everybody 
feared for the future, and hesitated, naturally enough, under the 
circumstances, to make any arrangements for more than a few 
hours ahead. 

The serious and fatal illness of Queen Victoria was univer- 
sally deplored. Thackeray's tribute to one of the Queen's prede- 
cessors on the throne, ^'I am sure the future painter of our man-'; 
ners will pay a willing allegiance to that good name and be loyal 
to the memory of that unsullied virtue," can be applied to Victoria 
with much greater fidelity to fact. She is sure to live in the chroni- 
cles of her country as the " Good " Queen. The illness of no other 
monarch could have given the world more concern, or excited such 
general sympathy and regret. 




THE QUEEN AT HOME: BREAKFAST IN THE OPEN AIR 




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THE PRINCESS OF WALES RECEIVING THE QUEEN AT THE GANGWAY 
OF THE ROYAL YACHT " OSBORNE" AT COWES 



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ASHANTI EXPEDITION: THE QUEEN BIDDING FAREWELL TO THE 
SCOTS GUARDS AT WINDSOR 




EMPEROR WILLIAM OF GERMANY, GRANDSON OF QUEEN VICTORIA 




THE QUEEN AT BALMORAL STARTING FOR A MORNING DRIVE 







GENEALOGICAL TREE OF THE QUEEN AND HER DEGENDANTS 




VISIT OF LI-HUNG CHANG, CHINESE VICEROY, TO THE QUEEN 

AT OSBORNE 



ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 



Rulers whose personal qualities inspire respect akin to affec- 
tion beyond tlie confines of tlieir own realms are rare. In this 
respect ^.^ictoria stood almost alone among the leading contem- 
porary sovereigns. Without any acknoAvledgment or recognition 
of the divine right of kings, without yielding any tenet of popular 
government, it is a cause for rejoicing that one of the greatest of 
empires has been ruled during two-thirds of a century by a woman 
who personifies the domestic virtues and who has been accepted by 
her people, as one of the Queen's admirers puts it, as " the pattern 
and paragon of womanhood.'' 

Victor Hugo, in recalling the many men and women of high 
and low estate that he had known, said in a beautiful generaliz- 
ation of his esti- ^^:S^^ __ _ 
mate of humanity 
that there is onl}^ 
one thing before 
which we should 
kneel, and that 
is "goodness." 
This is the hom- 
age that the world 
in spirit paid 
to the stricken 
Queen. The re- 
gal state and the 
sceptred race 
strike the imagi- 
nation ; but the old Westminster hall. 

womanly virtues of Victoria, her maternal love, her lifelong, 
touching devotion to the memory of the Prince Consort, the 
picture of domestic felicity in which she is represented as the 
central and venerable figure, appeal to the common heart. All 
people were moved by tender influences and inspirations and 
sympathized with the aged monarch, who was yielding at last to 
the weight of years, to the ceaseless responsibilities of sover- 
eignty, from which no rank nor station is exempt. 
3 




34 ALARMING NEWS FROM THE ROYAL PALACE. 

It was unfortunate that tlie waning years of the Queen's lite 
were clouded by war. A few years before her death she depre- 
cated war, and confidentl}^ expressed the hope that Bngland would 
have no more war during her reign. It is lamentable that the 
aged Queen's desire that there should be no war in the brief span 
of life remaining to her was not fulfilled, and that the end of her 
reign could not have been as tranquil as its beginning. 

The solicitude of the British masses for their stricken ruler 
was not founded upon an exaggerated estimate of the qualities of 
royal personages. The correspondent of a New York journal 
said of her : 

" There has been a homliness in her domestic life throughout 
which has attracted the middle classes. No sovereign living has 
insisted more strenuously upon royal prerogatives, or has more 
jealously. guarded her ro37al interests. Along, however, with this 
rigidity in ceremonial life there has been a steady devotion to 
duties, and a complete absence of ostentatious show and of theatri- 
cal effects in inner life of the Queen's court. On this foundation 
there has been reared during the last fifteen years a kind of legend- 
ary idyl, domestic and pastoral, around Her Majesty. " 

Miich has been said and written in America of the " traditional " 
dislike for England. Whatever may be the extent or depth of the 
American antipathy to Great Britain, it has not survived against 
Queen Victoria. The American comment upon her personalit}/ 
and her demise was as appreciative of her womanly characteristics 
and of her reign, so far as she has given it color, as that of the 
English journals. It will be fortunate for the realm if the ideals 
of royal dignity, duty and domesticity which Englishmen 
associate with Victoria are realized in the future representatives of 
her dynasty. 



CHAPTER II. 

Love and Veneration for the Dying Queen. 

DURING her last illness, when her brain was clear, the Queen 
immediately reverted to the horrors of the war in South 
Africa. Again and again she harped upon the war. This 
war, which she strove with all her power to avert, made the last 
hours of England's Queen, who reigned happily longer than most 
men live, very wTetched and miserable. In her lucid intervals it 
haunted her incessantly. 

The Queen's strong constitution manifested the first symp- 
toms of serious decay during the stay of the court at Windsor 
in November and December of 1899, when evil tidings of the South 
African war, which began the previous October, began to arrive in 
rapid succession. The Queen did not look for any serious disaster 
to her army. She expected nothing but a series of quick, easy 
victories. Instead, disaster followed disaster every few days. Gen- 
eral Buller, before leaving England for the South African cam- 
paign, assured the Queen that the war would be " difificult but not 
dangerous." In consequence the news of the many reverses came 
to her with added severity. She felt that she had been deceived. 
It was at this time that the Queen had her fits of crying in an 
aggravated form, which immediately preceded her critical illness. 

HER VISIT TO IRELAND. 

The excitement incidental to her visit to Ireland — which, 
despite everything stated to the contrary, was her own idea — 
seemed to revive her, but before the visit ended a reaction had set 
in. The public, however, was entertained by the accounts of her 
Majesty's doings and utterances given to the newspapers by her 
household. Unusual care was taken to have her alleged replies to 
addresses and other evidences of mental activity set before the 
public. In reality the Queen's remarkable powers were passing 
into a hopeless decline. 

When she went to Balmoral, her Highland home, her spirits 
revived under the influence of General Roberts' brilliant achieve- 

35 



36 LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 

ments in the South African war, but the improvement was short. 
It had always been a source of wonder to her physicians that, with 
her great appetite and physique, she had escaped an apoplectic 
stroke, but about this time there was a falling awa}^ of her left 
side, accompanied by a loss of power in her left arm and leg. 
These symptoms caused apprehensions of approaching paralysis. 
So alarming was her condition, that the Royal Family abandoned 
all idea of making a trip to the Continent, which, it had been 
hoped, would revive the Queen mentally and physically. 

Unfavorable war news and reports of the acute suffering of 
her dying daughter, Empress Frederick, affected the Queen 
keenly. She suffered with increasing frequency from fits of depres- 
sion and crying. She referred constantly to the death of the Duke 
of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Bdinburgh), and expressed a wish to seethe 
Duchess. Accordingly, the latter was summoned to Osborne, but 
at the first interview the Duchess left the Queen prostrated with 
grief. In the midst of these troubles came the sudden and unex- 
pected death of her oldest and dearest friend, the Dowager Lady 
Churchill, Senior Lady of the Bedchamber and member of the 
Royal Household for forty-six years. 

PRINCE SINGING TO HIS GRANDMOTHER. 

While the Queen was sleepless at night she also had strange 
fits of drowsiness in the daytime. When her mind was clear she 
tried valiantly to combat this failing. The Court officials also 
worked hard to keep her from sleeping at the wrong time. The last 
time she drove outside the grounds at Osborne the villagers of East 
Cowes were astounded to hear the clear treble of the son of the 
Princess of Battenberg trilling out popular songs from the Royal 
carriage. The boy was singing to keep his grandmother awake 
in obedience to her wishes. Now and again she dozed, wakenings 
to tell the boy to continue his chant, which to the initiated on- 
looker contained a world of pathos. 

The Queen drove about in her donkey chaise within the 
grounds of Osborne House for the last time on Tuesday, January 
15th. The Duchess of Bdinburgh or Saxe-Coburg was her com- 



LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 37 

panion. Ou her return to tlie castle the Queen was asleep. In 
that condition she was carried to her bed, never to rise again. 

Dr. Pagenstecher, the German oculist, who was attending the 
Duke of Somerset for an injury to his eye, was summoned to Os- 
borne. The Queen suffered acutely from her eyes owing to her 
constant crying. Dr. Pagenstecher made a general examination 
on Monday, the 14th, and reported that the Queen had nothing 
organically wrong, but was suffering from nervous exhaustion. 

DISTRESSED ABOUT THE WAR. 

In her periods of mental activity she harped so incessantly 
upon the war that Colonial Secretary Chamberlain was commanded 
to go to Osborne to console her with reassuring news. Mr. Cham- 
berlain led the war party when the Queen favored peace in South 
Africa. It was not a wise thing, as, it turned out, for her house- 
hold to summon Chamberlain. His efforts to console the Queen 
were fruitless, and she abruptly closed the conference. Subse- 
quently Lord Roberts was directed to appear at Osborne. He did 
not attempt to deceive the Queen, but frankly explained the difiE- 
culties which had to be overcome before the war in South Africa 
be terminated. The interview lasted some time, and it was the 
last time that the Queen displayed the wide knowledge and shrewd 
common sense which played such an important part in her long 
reign. It was after the Roberts interview that the Queen, accom- 
panied by the Duchess of Edinburgh, went for the drive already 
mentioned. 

Two weeks before the public knew of it Sir Francis Laking 
had been assisting Sir James Reid at Osborne. On Thursday, the 
17th, Sir Douglas Powell, the famous heart and lung specialist, 
was summoned to Osborne because of two attacks of heart failure 
from which the Queen suffered on Wednesday night, and which 
occasioned alarm. 

At- that time the Queen's condition had assumed the gravest 
complexion, but the Prince of Wales, in order to prevent public 
alarm or suspicion, attended a dinner given to Lord Roberts, and 
subsequently appeared at the theatre on Thursday night. On 



38 LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 

Thursday the Queen had a stroke of paralysis. Then she went 
into a comatose condition, rallying only once in awhile to ask : — 

" Is the war " 

Much difficulty was experienced in administering nourish- 
ment, for she appeared unable to masticate. To this weakness 
were probably due the long spells of unconsciousness through which 
she passed, although it is almost impossible to distinguish them 
from the insidious encroachments of paralysis. 

Meanwhile the nations of Europe were profoundly moved, and 
the intense feeling was reflected in the newspaper press. So far as 
Paris was concerned, the interest regarding Queen Victoria was 
rather sensational than sympathetic. The bitter anti-British feel- 
ing of the boulevards, the expression of which was generally vented 
in denunciation of the policy in South Africa, tinged most of the 
press comments. The Temps 2.VL.dL Journal des Debats were the most 
moderate of the prominent papers. 

GRANDEST PERIOD IN HISTORY. 

The Temps said : "Whatever the verdict of posterity may be 
upon the* war, the sanguinary occurrences of which have darkly 
crimsoned the glory of the Queen's declining years, and no matter 
what responsibility can be attached to Her Majesty for the British 
imperialistic policy, nobody will hesitate to affirm that the sixty-four 
years' reign of Victoria has been one ofthegraudestperiods in British 
history. Victoria has been the model of a constitutional sovereign. 
She incarnated the Empire, its unity, grandeur, and traditions. 
She did not deserve to bear the burden of the aggressive policy of 
violence and disaster of a Chamberlain. 

^\i^ Journal des Debais declared that the war had been a great 
sadness for the Queen, who was kept in ignorance of the facts. 
She did not deserve that this be added to her other griefs. 

A large number of educated Parisians were stirred with genuine 
emotion. They entertained reverence for the Queen, appreciated 
her qualities and did not share the rancor of the hotheads. Prayers 
for Her Majesty's recovery were offered in all the English churches 
in Paris. 



LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 



39 



The information regarding the grave condition of Queen Vic- 
toria caused a sensation in St. Petersburg. After it was received 
there was a constant stream of carriages arriving at the British 
Embassy, the occupants anxiously inquiring for the latest informa- 
tion concerning Her Majesty. 

With an unanimity that scarcely any other event could have 
awakened the congregations of worshippers throughout G real: Britain 
on Sunday turned their thoughts to Osborne and joined in prayers 
in behalf of the aged sovereign. In this Jews, Romaiiis'.s, Epis- 
copalians, and all the Nonconformist sects were at one, the sole 
difference in their supplication being in the outward ritual. At St. 
Paul's cathedral the preacher, the Rev. Prebendary Whitworth^ 
made no special reference to Her Majesty in his sermon, but re 
quested the congregation to make special prayers for lier recover^' 

THE SHADOW OF A GREAT CALAMITY. 

The service in Westminister Abbey was exceptionally impres- 
sive. The preacher, the Rev. R. Wilson, said the people had met 
under the shadow of a great fear, which must send them ay a nation 
to their knees in humble, heartfelt prayer to God. Nothing of 
more serious import could occur than the event that was to- day 
happening. It would cause them to look to God with the most 
conscious humility. 

There was a large attendance at the Chapel Royalj St. 
James's. Dr. Sheppard, the Sub-Dean, ofEciated. He asked during 
the Litany for the prayers of the congregation " for the Queen, 
who is seriously ill." Before the sermon Dr. Sheppard read the 
midday bulletin, adding : " Let us pray God that this life, so 
precious to the country, may yet be spared in spite of the news 
that reaches us now." He took his text from Corinthians : "Some 
are fallen asleep." At Canterbury Cathedral the Bishop of Dover 
said in his sermon that the people were anxious as they had never 
been before. They loved the Queen with a love that few sover- 
eigns have ever elicited. They had rejoiced at her true example 
and shared her many sorrows. 

At St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburg, the Rev. Cameron Lees, 



40 LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 

a personal friend of tlie Queen, referred to the event as startling, 

solemnizing every one. He added tliat the duty of the hour was 

to be calm, to put trust in God, and to commend to His gracious 

and tender keeping, whether for life or death, in the strength of 

the beautiful and simple faith which had wonderfully and so 

long supported her. 

On Monday morning, the 21st, London abandoned hope of the 

Queen's recovery. The grave midnight message from Osborne 

destroyed the last vestige of confidence that the skill of Her 

Majesty's physicians would prevail. All the morning papers 

viewed the situation despairingly, admitting that the end of the 

happiest and most glorious reign England has ever known was at 

hand. 

"HER CONDITION IS VERY GRAVE." 

Waking London was griefstricken beyond the power of words. 
It was expected that late despatches from Osborne would cause the 
Prince of Wales and the German Emperor to depart at once for the 
Isle of V/ight. The Kaiser occupied the rcyal apartments in 
Buckingham Palace. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of York 
went to Marlborough House. 

The announcement about the Queen that greeted clubmen 
as they hastily rushed to the telegraph board seemed to extin- 
guish all hope in those who scanned it. It read : 

" 7.15 A. M. The Queen is alive, but her condition is very 
grave." 

Bulletins posted outside of Buckingham Palace and Marl- 
borough House said that her condition was unchanged. From 
time to time during the morning and afternoon telegrams came 
telling of the movements of royalties. There was a crowd outside 
of Buckingham Palace and Marlborough House. Many persons 
had waited all night. The notices given were on white sheets of 
paper and were posted on small boards six inches by twelve, as 
primitive as anything could be. 

Poor " Bobby," alias the policemen, had a very hard time of 
it. Persons in the crowd kept asking him a multitude of questions 
which would have turned the brain of a chartered accountant. As 



LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 



41 



a rule, they insisted that lie had the news up his sleeve which he 
was concealing. Someone asked a policeman outside of Bucking- 
ham Palace whether the whole thing was not gotten up to stimu- 
late volunteering for South Africa. All the time a crowd remained 
outside of both Buckingham Palace and Marlborough House, 




CATHEDRAL OF ST. PAUL, LONDON. 

gazing hard at the buildings, as if expecting them to take wing 
and fly away. 

At one o'clock the official news, which had come at eleven 
o'clock, that the Queen passed a restless night, but there was no 
material change, was supplemented by an unofficial telegram to the 



42 LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 

effect that the Queen had beeu uncouscious for hours. This 
caused yet another cloud of gloom over all. Those who had 
looked for hopeful news found the reverse. From the middle of 
the day she seemed to fail, and even those who had been mpst 
hopeful lip to then were doleful. A message came from Cowes 
that the Queen's condition was of the gravest. Then came the 
news that a generally despondent view was taken at Osborne. 

Do you ask what the feeling was in London ? It was one of 
most extraordinary surprise— surprise, and nothing else but 
surprise. It seemed almost a sort of callousness. All were aston- 
ished at the extraordinary calm that London showed under such 
trying circumstances. There was really more talk in society about 
what the Prince of Wales would do when he came to the throne 
than about anything else. 

GREAT ANXIETY IN THE METROPOLIS. 

" London continued to watch and wait for tidings of the 
Queen's condition," wrote a correspondent who visited the chief 
places of interest. " Anxiety for details overshadows every other 
interest. Even the war is forgotten. I stepped to-day into the 
War Of&ce corridor, where nnder other circumstances there would 
have been a crowd. Lord Roberts, he from whom the whole coun- 
try so little while ago w^as seeking news, went down himself to 
Buckingham Palace to write his name in the book and ask for news. 
' Bobs,' as brown as a berry after his recent campaign, carried that 
same anxions look on his face which one has been accustomed to 
see on the countenances of every one met during the last three 
days. Even at the time when * Bobs' returned from the Cape and 
made his call on the Queen, Her Majesty had been indisposed and 
could only receive him for a few minutes, and that after a certain 
delay, which at the time was not fully understood. That was why j 
the Commander-in-chief went down a second time. 

''There was intense sadness in the rugged old field marshal's 
face. His eye had a fixed, hazy appearance. I scarcely think that 
he noticed the ill-mannered, but well-intentioned crowd that fol- 
lowed him up St. James' street as he walked back, so absorbed was 



LOVE AND V^ENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 43 

lie in thought. I scarcely think he noticed the carriages, as he 
crossed Piccadilly to get into Dover street, through which a typical 
paternal 'bobby' cleared a passage, holding up his arms as a sign 
that all traffic should stop. ' Bobs' was silent as well as sad. Not 
a word did hte utter to the military-looking gentleman who accom- 
panied him. There were volumes of feeling to be read in the old 
man's face. You could see Avritten on it distinctly the thought 
unexpressed : ' This is a sad ending to the war and to all our 
efforts.' Of the many sad faces I have seen to-day none was more 
pathetic than the rugged one of Lord Roberts. 

" How he felt was told later by one who had spoken to him. 
'This sorrow,' said that gentleman, 'is akin to anguish of the 

deepest kind.' 

REPORTED TO BE FAST SINKING. 

'' Few who went to bed last night after reading the pessimistic 
midnight report had much idea that they would wake to find the 
Queen still alive, and surprise that Her Majesty had survived the 
night was very general. The Cowes Exchange wire early in the 
morning told that Her Majesty was fast sinking, coupled with the 
statement that this came direct from Osborne. This caused still 
further anxiety, which was relieved in a measure by an official 
telegram which followed at midday, saying that the royal patient 
had rallied, had taken food and had had a refreshing sleep. So far 
that bulletin was satisfactor}'', but whatever hopes the early portion 
of it raised were dashed by the alarming end, which told of a com- 
plication and local obstruction of the brain circulation. 

" On the top of that the Cowes Bxchange Company issued yet 
another notice saying that, in spite of the optimistic report above 
mentioned, the Queen was sinking fast and was in an unconscious 
condition. People generally took the better report to mean the 
flicker of the tenacious vitality of an extraordinary constitution' 
fighting hard in a struggle for life, but none was found sanguine 
enough to build up the slightest hope of recovery upon it. They 
preferred to believe another agency report which followed during 
the afternoon, also from Cowes, which represented that all hope had 
been given up. 



44 LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 

*'A11 this brouglit about a curious situation at the given 
moment when the first evening papers were issued. About one 
o'clock rival journals came out with display bills, each telling a 
totally different story of the state of the Queen's health in huge 
'etters. On one was ' Queen Unconscious, Sinking Fast.' These 
were green display bills. Others, yellow and white, also in huge 
lettering, read, ' Queen Rallying ; Has Eaten and Slept. Official.' 
( "What is more, the boys yelled out the two versions at the 
top of their voices. It was good for business, as each sold the 
papers in equal amount, the public being forced to buy both in 
order to try to make up its mind which was right. But the great 
feature of the day was that the centre of interest was around Marl- 
borough House. The Mall in front of the Prince of Wales' house 
was simply blocked from eleven o'clock on with callers anxious to 
sign their names in the book which lies inside the gates of the 
small, twelve foot square office. Hundreds had already signed by 
the middle of the day and thousands will have penned their names 
before the day has closed. It was a new book of red morocco. 
One of the royal servants stood over it, and when any signer 
showed a disposition to waste space remarked, ' Write close, please.' 

CROWDS SURROUNDING THE BULLETINS. 

" On the St. James's side of the Prince's house there was a 
goodly crowd, occupying the whole of the broad pavement, and 
often bulging out into the middle of the road, of people anxious 
to pursue the bulletin which was hung up on the wall on a red 
baize covered board. The bulletin was wriU^-m on a large sheet of 
note paper, headed in green lettering, ' Board of Green Cloth, 
Buckingham Palace ' (Lord Steward's Department of Her Majesty's 
Household), and was signed ' Edward Pelham-Clinton, Master of 
the Household,' who in usual parlance is Lord Edward Pelham- 
Clinton, second son of the fifth Duke of Newcastle. 

" Naturally, not the least anxious people about London were 
the members of the Queen's Household. They were all asking 
what was to become of them when the inevitable death occurred. 
They number their thousands, and many of them are people ad- 



LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 45 

vanced in age, whom the Queen kept on, not because they were of 
any particular use or, indeed, ornamental, but because she did not 
wish to turn them away. It is true that the salary in most cases 
is not very large, but most of them have managed to find free 
houseroom in that extraordinary old rabbit warren of a building, 
St. James's Palace. 

''At the Garrick Club there was much discussion as to what 
should be done. It was taken for granted that the theatres would 
be closed for at least a week, and should the death be announced 
in the midst of a performance the houses would be forthwith 
closed. People were beginning to speculate as to the results. 
Tradespeople were in an awful state of mind. There was no season 
last year, owing to the war, and at the same time taxation was 
enormously increased. They have been told to wait, and that the 
year would make it up to them, but now in blank despair they 
realize that there will be no season this year. 

HURRYING INTO MOURNING. 

" Bond street, Regent street, and Dover street are a sight to 
behold. Fashionable women are running and rushing about to 
their dressmakers countermanding colored costumes which they 
had ordered for the coming spring season, and imploring thti mod- 
istes to turn out mourning gowns with the utmost rapidity Hat- 
ters are laying in a stock of deep hat bands, and stationers are 
getting mourning edged stationery, while crape is being ordered 
by the ton. 

" One busy point is up at the top of Regent street, where the 
largest mourning warehouses exist. There a shop full of new 
hands is being taken on to meet the demands. As many orders 
are being booked each day as previously in six months, and the 
rush is tremendous. Crape is necessary to cover over the gold of 
the Royal Household liveries, in itself a very serious considera- 
tion. In fact, London is just beginning to realize what the effects 
are of such a calamity as that of which everyone is prepared to 
hear at any moment. 

" Perhaps one of the most striking features was this evening 



46 LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 

shown iu the theatres, which were unusually empty. The reason 
was that it got about that in all probability the performances would 
be stopped. I happened myself to be at one of the theatres, and 
there was not a person who came in who was not speculating that 
before the performance had run its natural course it might be 
stopped. Such was just one example of the condition of mind 
existing late this evening. 

" In the fashionable supper resorts there was a general 
expression of pleasure that the Queen had been able to survive the 
day and the latest bulletin seemed to indicate that she would 
survive the night. In some very sanguine quarters hopes were 
raised, but the generality of opinion is, in spite of the better 
accounts, that the whole thing is a matter of hours." 

ASSEMBLED FOR THE LAST SCENE. 

The most noticeable feature of Monday was the satisfactory 
portion the Queen spent in consciousness, which she regained early 
in the afternoon and still retained at lo p. M. At "that hour she 
had not seen Emperor William, local rumors to the contrary not- 
withstanding. Royalty at Osborne thus had a chance to recuper- 
rate from the terrible ordeal undergone during the early hours of 
Monday. The members of the royal family were called to a room 
adjoining the Queen's bedchamber no less than four times Sunday 
morning, and were kept in momentary expectation of being 
summoned to witness the end, up to half-past five. Her Majesty's 
physicians then only had a vestige of hope that they would be able 
to keep the Queen's feeble life in existence until the Prince of 
Wales arrived. 

To secure this result they resorted to the frequent use of 
brandy and champagne. These stimulants, used to an extent 
which only the greatest emergency justified, worked their effect, 
and when the Prince of Vv'ales and Emperor William entered the 
castle grounds at 11.30 A. M. they found the Queen a trifle better 
than had been expected. The desperate remedies emplo3^ed 
Monday morning to enable Her Majesty to live until her eldest 
son's arrival were not used again to the same extent, for the 



LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 47 

doctors were fearful that the remedy might be almost worse than 
the disease. They trusted to prolong her life by a moderate 
application of stimulants, combined with as much nourishment as 
could be assimilated. Such experiments as were employed during 
Sunday evening and Monday morning were not considered justi- 
fiable. 

The Queen's rally astonished no one more than her physicians, 
and when at four o'clock Monday afternoon they heard her ask for 
chicken broth, their amazement almost equalled their delight. 
Privately, however, they built no false hopes upon those fading 
signs of what was one of the strongest constitutions with which 
a woman was ever endowed. Despite the favorable afternoon, the 
doctors dreaded greatly the period between six o'clock and 
midnight. When that was safely passed, they seemed hopeful 
of Her Majesty living at least through another day, although the 
memory of the previous night's relapse kept their anxiety at high 

tension. 

NO SALUTES OR CHEERS. 

There was an entire absence of local excitement at Cowes. The 
town settled down in patience and sadness to await the inevitable. 
Never did Emperor William arrive at any place in England with 
so little eclat. No salutes were fired, no cheers were given. The 
men of the guardship Australia silently manned her sides. The 
crowd was equally undemonstrative, the people contenting them- 
selves with baring their heads. It was a greeting given to the 
grandson of a dying woman rather than to the ruler of a great 
ally. 

After luncheon at the castle the Prince of Wales, Emperor 
William and the Dukeof Connaught strolled around the groundsand 
visited the local sailors' home. The Bishop of Winchester who had 
been at Osborne since Saturday, visited the rector of Whippingham 
Meanwhile most of the ladies at Osborne House snatched a few hours 
of sleep. Then a dull evening dragged into night ; and the uneasy 
sleepers, around whose royal home the wind howled pitilesssly, got 
what rest they could in the intervals of a vigil which the whole 
world was keeping in company with them. 



48 LOVE AND VENERATION FOS. THE DYING QUEEN. 

" Queen Victoria has had exceptional opportunities, and has 
availed herself of these opportunities to challenge the respect of 
the whole world," the Right Rev. Henry Y. Satterlee, Bishop of 
the Diocese of Washington, said. '^Hach one of these opportuni- 
ties was a great temptation to her personally, because of her exalted 
position. She has not yielded to these temptations at all. She 
has raised the political standard of Bngland. She is also a true 
woman in her womanliness, and thus has elevated the social 
standard. She has helped every good influence, every Christian 
influence, and her power for good in missionary work is shown by 
the fact that during her reign the missionary bishops have increased 
from a score to nearly two hundred. 

HUNTING DOWN A SCANDAL. 

To illustrate the womanly side of the Queen, Bishop Satter- 
lee related a hitherto unpublished incident connected with the 
marriage of the Duke of York. A report had been widely published 
that he had another wife living, and that, because he had married 
contrary to the act of Parliament, the marriage was declared illegal. 
The Queen's motherly instincts were at once aroused. She was so 
distressed at the report that she personally directed that a denial 
should be published. The editor of the London Times advised her 
representative that no notice should be taken of the report and said 
that its falsity would ultimately be recognized. 

The Queen's view as to the truth of the matter proved to be 
correct. To set at rest these scandalous stories, an investigation 
of the conduct of the Duke of York was made by two eminent men, 
at the Queen's request. Their investigation proved that there 
was no truth in the reports ; yet so widely had they been spread 
that on the day of the Duke's marriage many letters were received 
protesting against the union. The Queen's motherly instinct in 
ithis affair had been unerring and had been vindicated by the sub- 
sequent developments. 

At the opening of Monday's session of the United States 
Senate the Chaplain in his invocation referred with deep pathos to 
the condition of Queen Victoria. 



LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 49 

" With a multitude which no man can number," he prayed, 
"we come with tremendous anxiety and the profoundest awe to 
the bedside of the great, good Queen, who lies on the border of two 
worlds. Living for more than three score years in the fierce light 
which beats upon a throne, by her conduct and character she has 
won not only the loyalty of her own people, but the veneration and 
homage of all true hearted men and women around the world. And 
now as it seems she is to depart from the earth, crowned with the 
blessings and love of countless myriads of the human family, let 
Thy heavenly grace cheer and sustain her in this supreme hour. 

" Likewise minister Thy tenderness and sympathy to all the 
members of her bereaved family and to the people of her realm, 
who feel as if their mother were departing from them. We confide 
her, her children and her people to Thy Almighty care and Provi- 
dence through Jesus Christ, our Saviour." 

OUTBURST OF POPULAR SYMPATHY. 

In unof&cial circles in Washington, the deepest and most 
sincere interest was expressed concerning the sad intelligence 
which came across the seas from Osborne House. In official circles, 
however, the interest was equally acute, but expressions from poli- 
ticians are so carefully worded that they are almost meaningless. 
This arises through fear that some public official may in the future 
render himself unpopular with some element in his constituency 
by a display of friendliness toward the British sovereign. 

Prominent Senators and other men occupying some of the 
highest positions under this government, who might be expected 
to rise above ordinary partisan feeling, when asked to give some 
expression of sympathy for the dying Queen politely declined, on 
the ground that it would not be good political policy for them to do 
so. As a general rule they explained that for political reasons 
they " could not afford to indulge in sentiment over a dear old lady 
who has lived to a ripe old age, who has had a glorious and honora- 
ble career on England's throne, and who has demonstrated to the 
civilized world that she is a noble mother, and probably the greatest 

Queen that ever reigned.'' 
4 



50 LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 

It would not be fair to assume that the politicians were 
unmindful of tiie remarkable career of Queen Victoria, nor would 
it be just to tliem to intimate that they were devoid of all the 
tender feelings which would naturally inspire members of the 
great Bnglisb- speaking family when within the shadow of the 
death of such an illustrious and God-fearing woman, but in national 
politics there is much that is heartless and cold-blooded. 

Leading politicians at the national capital — distinguished 
Senators, able Representatives, learned jurists and high official 
functionaries — when confronted with a simple request for a tribute 
to the life and character of England's dying Queen hid themselves 
behind the plea of political inexpediency. 

EULOGIES FROM OUR SENATORS. 

Members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 
however, were not so guarded. Senator Frye, President pro tem- 
pore of the Senate, and Senators Daniel, Morgan, Foraker and 
Clark gave utterance to generous sentiments regarding the life and 
reign of England's Queen as follows : 

Senator AVilliam P. Frye — Queen Victoria has the sympath};^ 
of all the people of the United States. She is recognized among 
our own people as having been a good, pure, noble woman, faithful 
to her people, devoted to the advancement of Christian civilization 
and to all good works. I do not fear any change in the existing 
friendly relations between the two governments, for the death of 
neither sovereign nor President can break the ties that bind the 
two peoples together. 

Senator John W. Daniel — No monarch has ever reigned with 
more of the respect and good will of mankind than Queen Victoria. 
As wife, mother, woman and Queen she will ever be a shining 
example. Her death will be mourned the wide world over. 

Senator John T. Morgan — Her Majesty Queen Victoria has 
had no superior in royal history for the purity, integrity and 
success of her reign. In all her imperial power and influence the 
highest quality and the noblest is her gracious and perfect woman- 
hood. 



LOVE AND VENERATION FOR THE DYING QUEEN. 51 

Senator Joseph B. Foraker — Queen Victoria has enjoyed the 
respect of the whole world. Her death will be regretted by the 
people of every country. It will not, fortunately, make any 
change in the relations existing between Great Britain and the 
United States. Those relations are very friendly — never more so. 
I hope they will so continue. 

Senator C. D. Clark — It is not strange, in view of her natural 
qualifications, her early training and hearty devotion to the indi- 
vidual interests of her subjects, as well as of the State, that Queen 
Victoria should have been the most beloved and most successful of 
all modern rulers, under the old forms of government. I can con- 
ceive of no reason why the friendly relations that have existed 
between the United States and Great Britain during the latter 
years of her reign should be in any way interrupted. 

TRIBUTE FROM A MEMBER OF THE CABINET. 

From John D. Long, Secretary of the Navy — I share with the 
whole American people, I believe, the very greatest respect for 
Queen Victoria as a sovereign and as a woman. She has not only 
had an unprecedently long reign, but a life full of nobility, purity, 
charity. It covers a most interesting and progressive period of the 
world. Through it all she has been a fitting representative of the 
great nation of which she has been Queen and the history of which 
during that time has been the most illustrious in its annals— if not 
in the glories of war, yet in the greater glories of peace and scien- 
tific development and higher life. 

Throughout the Dominion of Canada, among French Cana- 
dians as well as among the Knglish-speaking citizens, there was 
but one feeling expressed — that of sadness at the serious condition 
, of Her Majesty and of anxiety as to the outcome. Prayers for her 
w were said in the churches on Sunday, and in the larger cities, like 
" Toronto Montreal and Quebec, crowds surrounded the newspaper 
bulletin boards all morning waiting for news. Already it had 
been decided to postpone a number of balls and social functions. 



CHAPTER III. 
The Victorian Era Ended by Her Majesty's Death. 

OUKBN VICTORIA died at Osborne at 6.30 p. m. on tlie even- 
ing of January 22, 1901, and Kdward VII. began his reign 
The greatest event in the memory of this generation, the 
most stupendous change in existing conditions that could possibly 
be imagined took place quietly, almost gently, upon the anniver- 
sary of the death of Queen Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent. 

The end of this career, nevei equaled by any v^oman in the 
world's history, came in a simply furnished room in Osborne 
House. This most respected of all women, living or dead, lay in 
a great four-posted bed, and made a shrunken atom, whose aged 
face and figure were a cruel mockery of the fair girl who in 1837 
began to rule over England. 

Around her were gathered almost every descendant of her 
line. Well within view of her dying eyes there hung a portrait 
of the Prince Consort. It was he who designed the room and 
every part of the castle. In scarcely audible words the white- 
haired Bishop of Winchester prayed beside her, as he had often 
prayed with his sovereign, for he was her chaplain at Windsor. 
With bowed heads the imperious ruler of the German Empire and 
the man who is now King of England, the woman who has suc- 
ceeded to the title of Queen, the Princes and Princesses, and those 
of less than royal designation, listened to the Bishop's prayer. 

THE WHITE-HAIRED BISHOP. 

Six o'clock passed. The Bishop continued his intercession. 
One of the younger children asked a question in shrill, childish 
treble, and was immediately silenced. The women of this Royal 
Family sobbed faintly and the men shuffled uneasily. At exactly 
half-past six Sir James Reid held up his hand, and the people in 
the room knew that England had lost her Queen. The Bishop 
pronounced the Benediction. 

The Queen passed away quite peacefully. She suffered no 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 53 

pain. Those who were now mourners went to their rooms. A few 
minutes later the inevitable element of materialism stepped into 
this pathetic chapter of international history, for the court ladies 
went busily to work ordering their mourning from London. 

The wheels of the world were jarred when the announcement 
came ; but in this palace at Osborne everything pursued the usual 
course. Down in the kitchen they were cooking a huge dinner for 
an assemblage, the like of which has seldom been known in Eng- 
land, and the dinner preparations proceeded just as if nothing had 
happened. The body of Queen Victoria was embalmed to be taken 
to Windsor Saturday. The cofHn arrived in the evening from 
London, shortly after her death. 

An incident characteristic of the Queen's solicitude for others 
occured two days before when, in one of the intervals of conscious- 
ness, she summoned strength to suggest to her dressers, who had 
been acting as nurses, to take the opportunity of getting some 
fresh air. Monday afternoon she asked that her little Pommer- 
anian spaniel be brought to her bedside. 

THE QUEEN RALLIES. 

It was feared that the Queen was dying about 9 o'clock in the 
morning, and carriages were sent to Osborne Cottage and the 
Rectory to bring all the Princes and the Princesses and the 
Bishop of Winchester to her bedside. It seemed then very 
near the end ; but, when things looked the worst, the Queen had 
one of the rallies due to her wonderful constitution, opened her 
eyes and recognized the Prince of Wales, the Princess and Emperor 
William. She asked to see one of her faithful servants, a member 
of the household. He hastened to the room. Before he got there 
the Queen had passed into a fitful sleep. Four o'clock marked the 
beginning of the end. Again the family were summoned, and this 
time the relapse was not followed by recovery. 

The Prince of Wales was very much affected when the doctors 
at last informed him that his mother had breathed her last. Emperor 
William, himself deeply affected, did his best to minister comfort 
to his sorrow stricken uncle, whose new dignity he was the first to 



54 VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 

acknowledge. From all parts of the world came pouring into 
Cowes messages of condolence. They came from crowned heads, 
millionaires, tradesmen and paupers, and are variously addressed to 
the Prince of Wales and the King of England. 

The record of the last days of the reign of Victoria is not easy 
to tell. One correspondent was the only person admitted to Osborne 
House and his interview was with Sir Arthur John Rigge, Private 
Secretary to the late Queen, was the only official statement that had 
been given out. For several weeks the Queen had been failing. 
On Monday week she summoned Lord Roberts and asked him some 
very searching questions regarding the war in South Africa. On 
Tuesday she went for a drive, but was visibly affected. On Wednes- 
day she suffered a paralytic stroke accompanied by intense physical 
weakness. It was her first serious illness in all her eighty-one 
years and she would not admit it. 

FAMILY SUMMONED TO HER ROOM. 

Then her conditions grew so serious that against her wishes 
the family were summoned. When they arrived her reason had 
practically succumbed to paralysis and weakness. The events of 
the last few days v/ere described in the bulletius. At the lodge 
gates the watchers waited nervously. Suddenly along the drive 
from the house came a horseman, who cried, "The Queen is dead!" 
as he dashed through the crowds. Then down the hillside rushed 
a myriad of messengers, passing the fateful bulletin from one to 
another. Soon the surrounding country knew that a King ruled 
over Great Britain. The local inhabitants walked as if in a dream 
through the streets of Cowes, but they did not hesitate to stop to 
drink the health of the new monarch. 

Mr. Balfour's message announcing the Queen's death said her 
Majesty died peacefully. Her Majesty was so closely related to 
the European courts, big and little, that the gathering of royalties 
at the obsequies was unprecedented. 

Absolute silence reigned at night in the vicinity of Buck- 
ingham Palace and Marlborough House, London. A small bill, 
signed " Balfour," was posted outside announcing the demise of 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 55 

the monarcli. Much interest was evinced in the way in which the 
enormous fortune of the Queen would be distributed, the general 
notion being that Osborne House would go to Princess Beatrice 
and that she and Princess Christian would come into a considerable 
portion of Victoria's wealth. 

There was a remarkable scene outside of the Mansion House 
early in the afternoon. On the receipt of the alarming reports 




THE THAMES EMBANKMENT, LONDON. 

something resembling a groasa was uttered by the hundreds of 
people assembled, and then some one started to sing the national 
anthem. All heads were baredj and in a moment the crowds were 
singing " God Save the Queen," ^M2MmrYov proving how earnestly 
they wished for her recovery. The passengers in passing car- 
riages, cabs, and omnibuses joining in the singing, the drivers 
reverently doffing their hats. 



56 VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 

Lord Clarendon, tlie new Lord Chamberlain, witli Prince Chris- 
tian of Schleswig-Holstein and the Dnke of Argyll, arrived at 
Osborne in the afternoon. It is the Lord Chamberlain who, with 
the Archbishop of Canterbury, announces to a nev/ monarch his 
accession to the throne. The arrangements were already practically 
complete for meetings of the Privy Council and Parliament, the 
statutes providing that they shall assemble immediately on the 
death of a sovereign. The Privy Councillors could gather together 
vithin a few hours. The Ministers would attend, give up their 
seats of office, be resworn, receive the proclamation of the new 
King, pass votes of condolence and congratulation, and adjourn. 

OFFICIALS KEPT BUSY. 

At the offices of the Lord Chamberlain, at St. James's Palace ; 
of the City Remembrancer, at the Guild Hall and at the College 
of Heralds, the officials were busy preparing for the formalities 
which would attend the proclaiming of a new ruler of the United 
Kingdom and India. All the ancient gazettes, court circulars and 
other papers which describe the ceremonial of 1837 had been taken 
from the libraries, that the officials might familiarize themselves 
with the forms of the pageantry whereby a sovereign is proclaimed. 
The City Remembrancer said : 

*' It will depend on the pleasure of the new monarch to decide 
how far the ancient customs will be modified to suit modern 
methods ; but in a country where precedents are so firmly adhered 
to as England it may be anticipated that we shall follow closely on 
the acts which prevailed when the Queen ascended the throne. 
The Privy Council, which is a very large body, will meet at once 
at St. James's Palace, where the form of proclamation declaring 
that ' We,' etc., * with one voice and consent of tongue and heart 
declare and proclaim the high, mighty Prince Albert Edward,' etc., 
' who, by the death of the monarch, has become our only lawful 
and rightful liege,' etc. 

"This proclamation will give the new title the King may 
assume, but this is not yet announced to us. The proclamation 
will then be sent to the Heralds' College, and the following day the. 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 57 

Earl Marshal, the Garter King at Arms, the Heralds' Pursuivants 
and other officials, the college members, with the household troops, 
Mall proceed from the palace, in their splendid surcoats, to Trafal- 
gar Square. There the King at Arms will halt, command silence 
and read the proclamation. Proceeding down the Strand to 
Temple Bar, a halt will again be made to demand an entrance into the 
city to proclaim the King. There the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs in 
their state carriages will form a great procession, and when the 
Earl Marshal's party comes just within the city boundary the 
proclamation will be read again, and the procession will pass 
down Ludgate Hill and Cheapside to the Royal Exchange, where 
similar ceremonies will close the spectacle." 

THE NEW KING IN LONDON. 

The Privy Council met in Ivondon on the 23 d, and the 
proclamation of the King occurred thereafter at all places required 
by custom. The King came to London to preside over the 
Council. The probability that King Edward would take up a 
practically permanent residence in Buckingham Palace was much 
canvassed. This is a question that came very much home to 
Londoners. Queen Victoria's preference for Balmoral Castle and 
Osborne House was a complaint of long standing in the metropolis, 
and it was hoped that the new reign would see a change in this 
respect. The presence of the court in London would give a bright- 
ness and gayety which had long been absent. 

Not until Queen Victoria was laid to rest beside the Prince 
Consort at Frogmore would the theatres or music halls reopen. 
Moreover, business would come to a practical standstill. The 
music in all the hotels and public places ceased. Fashionable 
resorts were empty, and very few of the nightly habitues were in 
evidence. The St. James, Prince's and other prominent restaur- 
ants had already discarded alluring colors for sombre black. 
Shortly before midnight an official announcement was issued call- 
ing Parliament to assemble at four o'clock on Wednesday afternoon 
to enable members of the House of Lords and House of Commons 
to take the oath of allegiance to King Edward VII. 



58 VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 

An observer of the scene in London when it became known 
that the Queen was dead thus describes it : 

^' Dead " at half-past six o'clock this evening. Such was the 
word which echoed from thousands of voices. I happened to be in 
the Strand at the time and waited. The Queen had died at half- 
past six in Cowes, and one hour later the Evening News had a 
black bordered special out on the street. The other papers 
followed with rapidity, and soon the St. James Gazette had out a 
special memorial number, selling like hot cakes. 

EXTRAORDINARY SCENES IN THE STREETS. 

" The scene in the Strand by eight o'clock beggared descrip- 
tion. At that time the people were driving down in shoals to the 
theatres. Bigger and bigger grew the numbers, until the Strand 
was blocked with carriages. Most of the theatres at once closed 
their gates, placing heavy black bordered notices outside to the 
effect that, owing to the death of the Queen, their performances 
v/ere postponed until further notice. Those theatres leaving their 
doors open, which allowed would-be visitors to enter the hall, were 
sorry for it. After a very short time their box office clerks were 
pestered to death by all sorts of inquiries. ' How did the Queen 
die ? ' ' Shall we get our money back ? ' ' When is your theatre 
going to open again ? ' and a hundred other irrelevant questions 
from members of the assembling and waiting crowds, for they had 
nothing else to do. Can you realize what London is without 
theatres ? I never did myself until this evening, for not only was 
it those who came to see the performances who stood there in 
blank amazement, but also those who were to have given the 
performance. 

" In little or no time the Strand was crowded with members of 
the choruses, with paint still on their faces, actors with their make- 
up scarce off, musicians with their instruments, carpenters and 
scene shifters in their shirt sleeves, all not quite knowing what to 
do or where to go, and all contributing to compose a vast throng 
which soon overflowed the pavement and filled the street Never, 
never has such a sight been seen before. It was quite unique. 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 59 

"Those living in the East End came in vast bands to see what 
was going on in the western part of the town, while those who 
lived in the west ' made tracks ' eastward to see what was taking 
place around the Strand. These two vast waves of humanity met 
in the narrow Strand and added themselves to the already large 
floating masses composed so largely of theatre goers and mummers. 
All this was amid such surroundings as cabs and omnibuses 
blocked up in one great inextricable mass, men and boys yelling 
as though Bedlam were let loose, ' Death of the Queen. Extra 
speshul, evening paiper ! ' 

DESPATCHES SENT NEAR AND FAR. 

"At the same time the people threw themselves into the tele- 
graph offices, and sent telegrama all over the country, and there was 
a general rush to telephones, all telling the same, oft-repeated 
tale, ' The Queen is dead,' and all this, remember, little more than 
an hour and a half after the Queen had breathed her last at Os- 
borne. The cheap shops on the Strand promptly began to shut 
up, but before they did I noticed that several men's clothiers had 
promptly dressed their Avindows with black ties and mourning 
gloves, upon which forthwith there was a run, causing them to 
remain open later than they would have done otherwise. The 
notices that were put up in front of the theatres telling of the 
postponement of the play were all very heavily bordered with 
black. These notices were ready last evening — aye, and the even- 
ing before for that matter. 

" Those who came to see the plays in the main decided to get 
out of their carriages and walk about to see the other kind of show 
—that of the streets, which, indeed, was more striking than any- 
thing they could come out to see. They will never forget the 
human drama which they saw being played upon the streets of the 
Strand this evening. 

" jVIeanwhile, as though to impress the solemnity of the occa- 
sion still more deeply, the deep notes of ' Big Tom ' from the top 
of St. Paul's, began to ring out from the east, and with those of 
' Big Ben,' from the tower of the House of Commons, were borne 



60 VICTORIAN ERx\ ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 

over tlie night air like the booming of heavy-calibre cannons. 
Clang, clang, clang, came from all the intermediate churches, 
each tolling the knell of the dead, tolling slowly, solemnly, and 
within a minute between each clang. 

" Down Fleet street way the of&ces of the evening papers were 
besieged by leather-lunged newspaper venders, who fought each 
other in their anxiety to be first served, and to rush off to the West 
Knd. Bicycle boys, weighed down with newspapers, picked their 
way, goodness knows how, with infinite skill, through the dense 
crowds. The presses of the papers were insufficient to suppl}^ the 
first demands. 

" The impression left by all this was one great rush and a 
wild sort of fury and tangle of discordant sounds all dominated or 
punctuated by the great boom of the two mammoth bells' discord- 
ing jangle. The rest, meanwhile, of the city itself was a scene 
scarcely less wildly animated. Around St. Paul's the people rallied 
in their thousands. They had come to hear ' Big Tom ' ring out 
— that great bell which, you must understand, has only once before 
rung out the death toll of royalty — which death was that of the 
Duke of Clarence. And toll it did, with impressive resounding 
and with the full force of sixteen tons of hollow metal, and just 
one minute between each great cavernous sounding rumble which 
filled out into volumes of sound. 

MOURNING ON EVERY SIDE. 

"Already the shops have begun to put on mourning garb. I 
passed on a little further, leaving the great crowd around St. Paul's 
evidently under the impression that there was going to be a service 
there, which I understand was not the case, and passed on to the 
Mansion House. There was yet another great scene. Crowds and 
crowds, surging and swaying, special police everywhere trying to 
restrain the people who, all at the same time, wanted to read the 
bulletin telling of the death of the Queen, sent by the Prince of 
Wales fifteen minutes after her death. I then went off to Trafalgar 
Square. On my way there were evidences of universal grief 
Busts of the Queen were already being decorated with crape. 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 61 

" In Trafalgar Square from all quarters could be heard the 
constant ringing of bells. Busses were crowded to overflowing 
with people who had made up their minds to see the town under 
its excitement from their tops. After all, what else was there to 
do ? Not a place of amusement was open. Soon after this it com- 
menced to rain, and then the people began to hurry down off the 
' bus tops.' It is difficult to define the general sentiment, but it 
was as though a cord which had held something had all at once 
broken. Few people who have not been in London during the last 
few days can realize in the least the terrible tension which there , 
has been among the people. These last three days have seemed 
almost like months to most persons. So great and so acute has 
the anxiety been that time has been leaden footed. To a foreigner 
it might have seemed, perhaps, that there was a lack in the display 
of sentiment. But it was not so at all. It was merely that there 
was a depth of feeling which extinguished all thought of expres- 
sion. Bvery rally that the Queen made had quickened the pulsa- 
tions of the people. When she slept they had sighed with relief 
and hoped that it might do her good. When the bulletins showed 
her weak they too felt the weakness. It was as though they were 
suffering an illness just such as that of the Queen." 

SYMPATHY ON THIS SIDE THE ATLANTIC. 

It is not too much that this suspense and sorrow were shared 
by the people on this side the Atlantic. The day before the Queen 
died one of our well-known journals expressed the following senti- 
ments : 

" The English-speaking world hangs anxiously upon the bul- 
letins which at this writing suggest a fatal termination of Queen 
Victoria's illness. The American public shares with the public of 
the British Empire the profound sympathy, regret and apprehen- 
sion with which the news of her collapse is heard around the world. 
Revered as a Queen by her subjects, she is not less respected as a 
woman by the citizens of the Republic, to which in the hour of its 
dire need she was a faithful friend. No American can forget in this 
hour, when her life trembles in the fading strength of extreme age, 



62 VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 

that it was her act and her influence which warded off war in 1862, 
nor that through all the sixty-four years of her reign she has been 
the friend of America. 

" Of late years, in every possible way open to her, she has 
made known to the world her regard as a ruler for the American 
Republic and her appreciation as a woman of the affection, en- 
thusiasm and the personal respect which she has received from the 
American people. Nowhere, should the end come to this useful life, 
will public grief be stronger or the sense of personal loss deeper than 
in this country, where she has stood for so many years in the minds 
and hearts of men as a woman true to all duties and a ruler loving 
peace and j ustice. 

OMINOUS BULLETINS FROM OSBORNE. 

" The medical bulletins issued from Osborne House leave the 
very narrowest hope that these favoring conditions will prevail. 
The language used by the Queen's medical advisers seems instead 
to be deliberately chosen to prepare the world for the fatal termina- 
tion. A royal patient's condition is never bulletined as ' serious ' 
or spoken of as such as to ' cause anxiety,' nor would the state- 
ment as to the ' critical ' condition be issued did not the royal 
physicians find themselves face to face with such symptoms as lead 
them to feel that they will be held gravely responsible if an un- 
toward end comes without some premonition to the public, which 
to-day literally includes the world. Still more significant are the 
movements of the Emperor of Germany, the Prince of Wales and 
the other members of the royal family. These would never gather 
at Osborne House if their own private and personal advices did not 
lead them to believe that the end was a question likely of decision 
in the briefest span. 

"Queen Victoria is now 81 years and 8 months old, or will 
complete the eighth month of her 82d year the coming week. The 
only one of her recent line who has equaled these years is George 
HI., who died lacking four months of his 82 d year. Her father, the 
Duke of Kent, who shared the habits of his period, died at 53. 
Her mother, the Duchess, died at 75. Her great-grandfather, Prince 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 63 

Frederick, died at 44, and tis father, George II., lived to be 73. 

The several lines of Hanover, Saxe-Coburg, Mecklenberg- 

Strelitz, Saxe-Gotha and Brandenburg- Anspach, to which her male 

and female progenitors belong, represent no extraordinary 

longevity, but have many lives above the average. 

Thanks to a good life, unwearied industry, high purpose, the 

best and most regular habits and every virtue which can enoble 

the life of a woman or adorn the reign of a sovereign, the Queen 

has already exceeded the years to which the average of her line 

pointed. 

FEARS NOT REALIZED 

"She has, however, at each period and each odgency exceeded 
the years assigned her Sy the expectation of others. While young, 
long life was not predicted. When widowhood came her crushing 
grief, it was said, would shorten her years. A little over twenty 
years ago her health, physical and mental, was the subject of grav- 
est rumors. All were false. As increasing years came there came 
with them the inevitable loss of strength. She has walked with 
difficulty. Her once slender figure changed its outlines. Extreme 
age was stamped on her appearance. But she has continued with 
an indomitable will to discharge all her duties. She has never been 
more visible, move active or more plainly the head of a great 
Empire than in the past twelvemonth. Great personal grief has 
befallen her in the death of Lady Churchill. The events of the 
year have not only called her to great. fatigue and anxiety, but they 
frustrated the cherished purpose of near half a century to avoid any 
war with any European race or people. 

" Serious illness is not surprising after this experience and 
this strain, these labors, this personal loss and this bitter public 
disappointment. A less vigorous physique, a less masterful 
personality, would have failed long ago, but it looks now as if the 
inevitable close had come to the Queen." 

These forebodings were soon realized, the Queen passed from 
earthly scenes, and our journals, with singular unanimity, penned 
brilliant eulogies of her life and character. We insert one of these 
as showing the high esteem in which Victoria was held : 



64 VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 

" With tlie death of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and 
Empress of India, the longest and in many respects the most 
memorable British reign closes. The deceased monarch was born 
May 24, 1819. She ascended the throne at the death of her uncle, 
King William VII., June 20, 1837, ^^^ "^^^ crowned at West- 
minster Abbey, June 28, 1838. Had she lived until May 24th of 
the present year she would have been 82 years old. She reigned 
nearly 64 years. George III. reigned 59 years ; Elizabeth, 44 ; 
Edward III., 50; Henry III., 56. During Victoria's reign there 
were twenty-two Cabinets and nine Prime Ministers, beginning 
with the Melbourne Ministry and ending with that of Salisbury. 

"She out-lived all her Prime Ministers save two, Rosebery and 
Salisbury. Her accession took place during the Presidency of 
Martin Van Buren. She ruled contemporaneously with eighteen 
American Administrations, five German reigns, and eleven French 
Emperors and Presidents. 

SPLENDID ROLL OF ACHIEVEMENTS. 

" To recapitulate the progress of England during Victoria's 
long rule is to call the roll of British achievement in every branch 
of human endeavor for two-thirds of the past century, A brief 
glance at some of the more notable events is all that can be given 
here. The value of steam power was discovered, and the first rail- 
way was built before her accession. The first steamboat had 
crossed the ocean in 183 1. The voyages of the Great Western 
from Bristol to New York, and of the Sirius, from London to New 
York in Eighteen and a half daj^s in 1838 revealed the wonderful 
commercial possibilities of steam navigation. 

" Cooke built a telegraph line on the Great Western Railway 
as early as 1838. The leading political and other events of the 
reign were the establishment of penny postage in 1840 ; the passage 
of the Income Tax act in 1842 ; the Tractarian controversy in 
1844 ) ^^^ Anti-corn law agitation and repeal of the corn laws in 
1846 ; the Chartist demonstration in 1848 ; the exhibition of 1851 ; 
the establishment of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in 1850; the 
death of Wellington, 1852 ; the Jewish Disabilities bill, passed in 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED P.Y HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 



65 



1858; the visit of the Prince of Wales to the United States in 
i860; the death of the Prince Consort, December 14, 1861 ; com- 
pletion of the Atlantic telegraph ; the Reform bill of 1867 ; the 
Irish and Scotch Reform acts, passed in 1868 ; the Irish Church 
bill, which received the Royal assent in 1869 ; the Irish Land bill, 
signed in 1870; the proclaiming of the Queen as Empress of India 
in May, 1876. 

" During the reign provision has been made, particularly by 
the Education act of 1891, for the gratuitous elementary education 
of all children between the ages of three and fifteen, and education 
has been made compulsory for all classes. Voters' qualifications 
have been greatl}^ 
liberalized. The 
telegraph lines of 
the United King- 
dom were trans- 
ferred to the Gov- 
ernment in 1870. 
"The Queen 
is to be credited 
with the improve- 
ment in the social 
condition of her 
subjects and in so 
far as her govern- 
ment may have 
promoted the arts 
of peace and encouraged the wise use of opportunities by the 
passage of salutary laws and by refraining from interference with 
the natural development of trade and commerce. In all these 
respects the reign of Victoria has been distinguished. 

"England has been virtually at peace during all her long 
reign, for the Crimean War, the Indian and African campaigns 
were not of sufficient magnitude and importance to make more of 
anything than ripples in the current of English life. Legislation 
has encouraged trade and commerce; the arts and sciences have 




OLD SOMERSET HOUSE, LONDON: 



66 VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESi'Y'S DEATH. 

been promoted by liberal benefactions, and, above all, justice has 
been administered by an even hand, and has been tempered with 
mercy. 

"No government in the world can show a better contempora- 
neous record than that of England during the reign of Queen 
Victoria, and, although the Queen did not altogether control it, she 
'greatly influenced it by her example, and in no instance interfered 
with, but rather helped, the development of all the many govern- 
mental forces that regulates the world's advancement. The Bliza- 
bethan era will probably never be equaled in its literary products, 
but the Victorian era has eclipsed all others in its material products, 
in the spread of human knowledge and in all things that make for 
the uplifting of manhood. 

SECURE IN THE HEARTS OF HER PEOPLE. 

" One of the historians of the Victorian era has said, with 
great force, that there is security for British institutions in ' the 
powerlessness' of the British sovereigns. 

" Whenever the ' war of opinion,' of which the world had been 
now and then reminded since Canning's time, should overrun Europe, 
the danger would be for kings who govern as well as reign, or for 
those who really reign instead of occupying the throne through a 
political fiction. If such an outbreak should occur in the time of 
Victoria, she would, if personally blameless, be perfectly secure — 
secure alike in her political sinecurism and her personal blameless- 
ness. While revolutions have come like whirlwinds to sweep 
kings from their continental thrones, our sovereign has sat safe in 
her island, with not a hair of the royal ermine raised by the blast." 

In her first address Victoria gave the pledge that her life 
should be devoted to the happiness of her subjects. She redeemed 
the pledge of that distant day by sixty-four years of faithful rule, 
and has now surrendered her sceptre to a higher power. 

"The glories of our blood and state 

Are shadows, not substantial things ; 
There is no armor against fate ; 
Death lays hi^ i>v hand on Kings : 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 67 

Scepter and crown 

Must tumble down, 
And in the du'^st be equal made 
With the poor crooked scythe and spade. 

Only the actions of the just 

Smell sweet and blossom in their dust." 

In one of his glowing tributes to the sovereign of the realm 

i'eunyson wrote : 

"A thousand claims to reverence closed 
In her as Mother, Wife and Queen. ' ' 

The warm personal affection for the Queen evinced by all 
classes in Great Britain excited the attention of every foreign 
observer, and she was loved no less throughout the colonies and in 
this republican land of our own. All over the world, in fact, where 
lofty character and a strict sense of duty in every relation of life is 
respected the news that Victoria was dead brought a pang and a 
sense of personal sorrow. It has been said that if she had not been 
Queen she would have been held in scarcely less esteem. At the 
end of the most wonderful reign in history she lays down the 
sceptre — " Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of 

India." 

Pride, honor, country throbbed through all her strain. 

And shall we praise ? 

God's praise was hers before. 

And on our futile laurels she looks down 

Herself our bravest crown. 

Upon receipt of the news of the Queen's death, President 
McKinley sent the following cablegram : 

Washington, January 22, 1901. 
' His Majesty the King, Osborne House, Isle of Wight: 

" I have received with profound sorrow the lamentable tidings 
of the death of her Majesty the Queen. Allow me, sir, to offer 
my sincere sympathy and that of the American people in your 
personal bereavement and in the loss Great Britain has suffered in 
the death of its venerable and illustrious sovereign, whose noble 



eg VICTORIAN ERA ENDI.D P.Y HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 

life and beneficent influence have promoted the peace and won the 
affection of the world. William McKinlEy." 

This is Secretary Hay's message to Ambassador Choate : 
"You will express to Lord Lansdowne the profotind sorrow 
of the government and people of the United States at the death of 
the Queen and the deep sympathy we feel with the people of the 
British Empire in their great affliction. John Hay." 

THE QUEEN'S MESSAGE OF SYMPATHY. 

President McKinley's message to King Edward VII. was 
toned by the recollection of the cablegram of sympathy which 
Queen Victoria sent to Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Garfield on the 
occasion of the deaths of their husbands by assassination, and of 
the fact that the Queen ordered the Court into mourning when 
President Garfield died. The cable message from the Queen to 
Mrs. Garfield was as follows : 

" Balmoral Court. 

" Mrs. Garfield, Long Branch : — Words cannot express the 
deep sympathy I feel with you at this terrible moment. May 
God support and comfort you as He alone can. The QuEEn." 

This message was brought to President McKinley's atten- 
tion about the time the news of the death of Queen Victoria was 
received. 

Senator Chauncey M» Depew paid a high compliment to the 
Queen, the truth of which was universally recognized : 

"Queen Victoria had the rare distinction at the close of her 
long reign of possessing the ardent love and loyalty of the mau}^ 
races of her great empire, and the admiration and respect of the 
people of all other nations. 

"The beginning of the twentieth century witnesses the 
world mourning for a ruler with whose country many governments 
have relations which are far from friendly. This has occurred 
in no other era of history. She so illustrated in one of the 
loftiest positions of power the noblest qualities of woman, wife, 
and mother that she was revered in humble homes as well as in 
palaces all around the globe. 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 69 

" Her reign of sixty-three years made her cotemporary with 
the rise of civil and religious liberty, the development of civiliza- 
tion, the intellectual progress, the exploration of the Vv'orld, the 
inventions and discoveries, which lift the nineteenth century above 
all others, and which will be ])art of the record of her reign. Un- 
failing tact, sound common sense, aud a warm heart were the quali- 
ties which made her a great sovereign. At the time of the assas- 
sination of President Lincoln and again of President Garfield she 
instantly sent affectionate and sympathetic cables to the bereaved 
widows, which deeply touched every heart in our country. 

" She has been the most beneficent power for the peace of the 
nations. Her influence has averted many collisions and settled 
quarrels which might have resulted in disastrous wars or in serious 
revolutions at home. Just what to do and when to do it was with 
her a quality amounting to genius. 

KNEW VS^HAT PARLIAMENT WAS DOING. ' 

"When Parliament was in session the Prime Minister sent 
her every night after adjournment a summary of the work of the 
evening. Those of Gladstone had the formality of a digest, but 
Disraeli gave to his reports that personal coloring of both acts and 
actors which delighted her. She was thus in daily touch with Par- 
liament and Cabinet, and her advice or suggestion has often saved 
a ministry or minimized the mistake of a blundering leader. 

" She was always desirous of maintaining the most cordial re- 
lations with the United States, and our country has never had 
among the sovereigns of Kurope such an unwavering friend." 

Never in the history of the Republic did the death of a foreign 
ruler cause such a measure of official and personal regret as per 
vaded all Washington after the news came that Queen Victoria was 
dead. The United States flag floated at half-mast from the White 
House. This was the firit time its folds had ever been placed at 
mourning out of respect to the memory of any foreign dignitary. 
It was not lowered for President Carnot, of France, when he was 
assassinated. It was not lowered for King Humbert, of Italy, nor 
for the Czar of Russia. By order of the President the flags of all 



70 VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 

of the departments in Washington were also put half-raast, and in 
doing this a new precedent was established. 

It was a touching and impressive scene when these official 
colors came fluttering down about half-past three o'clock in quick 
succession. The act typified the nation uncovering and bowing its 
head. 

First down came the White House flag. Then one after an- 
other the standards on the State, War, and Navy Building. Then 
that on the Treasury Department. In less than ten minutes every 
army, navy, and departmental flag in Washington was testifying 
the reverence in which the memory of the Queen is held. The 
Secretary of the Interior had placed the flag on his department at 
half-mast without waiting instructions from the White House, and 
the President issued his order in advance of the receipt of any offi- 
cial information, simply waiting to be assured that the news was 

authentic. 

HER DEATH A PERSONAL LOSS. 

The President felt the death of the Queen very deeply, and so 
expressed himself to all callers. The personal message sent to 
King Edward VII. by the President was written by Mr. McKinley 
himself, and was also despatched in advance of the reception of any 
official news. 

Both houses of Congress took action, each passing its own 
resolution. In the Senate the resolution was presented by Senator 
Lodge, of Massachusetts. As originally drawn, the resolution pro- 
vided that the Senate should adjourn out of respect to the Queen. 
This was stricken out in secret session, and the resolution was 
adopted by an unanimous vote. Senator Lodge drew the resolution 
by virtue of his position as acting chairman of the Committee on 
Foreign Relations. 

In the House of Representatives Mr. Hitt, of Illinois, chairman 
of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, presented a resolution of pro- 
found regret at the death of the Queen, and providing for adjourn- 
ment as a mark of respect for her memory. Not an intimation of 
dissent was made. For the time being the anti-British politicians, 
who had paroxysms of rage in December because the British en- 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 71 

si^n was displayed in tlie House, sat mute. lu supporting the 
resolutiou, Mr. Hitt said: 

'' Mr Speaker, the resolution that is offered is one that follows 
the precedent of action by this house in the past. It is copied 
almost literally from the action of the House on the death of the 
President of the French Republic, and on another occasion on the 
death of the Czar of Russia. I do not deem it necessary to prolong •' 
discussion, and ask that the House take action now. For this i 
purpose I ask for the previous question." 

The previous question was ordered by a viva voce vote, in 
which all the members participated on the affirmative side. The 
resolution was then put on its passage and agreed to in the same 
manner. The House was declared adjourned. 

On all sides at the Capitol and throughout official Washing- 
ton were heard expressions of the deepest regret at the bereave- 
ment that had fallen on the British nation. Only kind words were 
uttered. Senator Lodge said that the death of the Queen was to 
the people of the United States a real sorrov/, and that Americans 
could never forget that England was prevented from active inter- 
ference in the Civil War largely, if not wholly, by the influence of 
the Queen and the Prince Consort. 

MOURNING AT OUR CAPITAL. 

In connection with the sympathy expressed by this country 
officially it was recalled that the British flag which floated 
from the Embassy had only been hoisted once before since 
the Queen's birthday, in May, and then in honor of the Washing- 
ton centennial, in December, 1900. 

Black crepe hanging in festoons between the pillars of tlie 
portal and the British flag at half-mast above it were the outward 
signs of mourning at the British Embassy. Within grief laid her 
pall. Draped with the badge of death were the portraits of the - 
Queen, one, which hangs at the head of the main staircase, show- 
ing her resplendent with youth ; the other, painted when she was 
older, wearing the royal diadem on her brow. Secluded from' all 
but their most intimate friends were Lord and Lady Pauncefote 



72 VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 

and the Honorable Misses Pauncefote, heavy with sorrow, not 
alone because of the death of their venerated sovereign, but of the 
demise of a personal friend. 

Lord Pauncefote was not surprised to be informed of the death 
of the Queen. He received from Lord Lansdowne the bulletins of 
her physicians, and it was apparent to him that the chance of 
recovery was slight. After vSaturday he declined to accept invita- 
tions of a social nature, and Lady Pauncefote communicated with 
friends with whom she had engagements expressing regret that on 
account of the serious illness of the Queen she was compelled to 
cancel them. 

THOSE FATAL MESSAGES. 

The press despatches which arrived early in the afternoon and 
were sent to the Bmbassy, announcing the death of Her Majesty, 
were accepted as genuine, though they were not confirmed until 
four o'clock, when Lord Pauncefote received a cablegram from 
Lord Lansdowne. In the meantime the Bxecutive Mansion com- 
municated with the Embassy, announcing the despatch of a 
message to the King and that the American flags had been placed 
at half-mast over the White House and the public buildings. 

This courtesy was highly appreciated by Lord Pauncefote, 
who had already given directions that the British flag over the 
Embassy be placed at half-mast and that crepe be placed on the 
portals of the building. Immediately after receiving Lord Lans- 
downe's message Lord Pauncefote sent an official communication 
to Secretary Hay, at his home, apprising that official of the death 
of the Queen. Lord Pauncefote also communicated by telegram 
with the Russian and German Ambassadors and the Danish and 
Portuguese Ministers, the reigning houses of whose countries are 
connected by ties of blood with that of Great Britain. These and 
other diplomats later called at the Embassy and left their cards in 
token of sympathy. 

No news ever sped over the city of New York more quickly than 
did the announcement that the Queen of Great Britain had sunk 
into her last sleep. Almost simultaneously with the coming of 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 73 

Liie message, which all were expecting, half-masted flags appeared 
above the cornices of the high buildings of New York and fluttered 
from the windows. The Union Jack waved over the oflices of the 
great commercial houses and the insurance companies where 
British capital was represented. The houses which deal with all 
the world hoisted the sign of mourning. 

Broadway and the busy streets which branch from it on either 
side were soon lined with the bunting, which showed to all who 
passed that the blow which had been awaited for many an hour had 
at last fallen. So promptly were the flags displayed that it seemed 
as though they were sent up the staffs by the impulse of a single 
will. To many the fluttering squares conveyed the first announce- 
ment that the dark hour had come to England and her colonies. 

SIGNS OF GRIEF ARE PROFUSE. 

The raising of the flag over the large dry goods stores and the 
skyscraping buildings was the more quickly noted. One well 
known house raised the British flag and six American flags 
beneath it on one pole, as if to emphasize how thoroughly the city 
mourned with those across the sea. On the buildings where the 
consulates of the various countries have their homes the flags 
of the respective nationalities were among tlie first to appear in 
their half-staff" mourning. Over the offices of the steamship lines 
the sign of grief speedily appeared. 

On the federal buildings the flags were soon lov/ered. There 
was a strange contrast in the display made at the General Post Of&ce 
and at the City Hall. The government officials displayed the 
lowered colors early in the afternoon. The flag over the dome of 
the City Hall remained at the very tip of the pole all day, and 
when the Mayor went home at half-past four o'clock in the after- 
noon, the emblem was taken down and folded up for the night. 

Old Trinity's bell tolled the news of the Queen's death for 
half an hour in advance of the occurrence. A man had been 
constantly stationed in the church for the last three days to be ready 
to toll the bells in the event of the death of the British sovereign. 
William C. Broughton, the sexton, received a cable message at one 



74 VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 

minute after one o'clock in the afternoon tliat the Queen was dead, 
and the announcement of the tidings was made by the deep tones 
from the belfry. He was informed later that the Queen was not 
dead, but so confident was he that the information he had received 
was correct that he did not stop the bellringer. The news was 
soon confirmed. The notes of the bells announced the death of a 
ruler for the first time since President James A. Garfield passed 
away. 

So quickly did the news of the death spread over the city that 
before three o'clock in the afternoon it seemed as though every one 
in the city knew it. The Fifth avenue clubs displayed drooping 
flags, and from the windows of the homes in the thoroughfare were 
shown the signals of mourning. In the book stores the usual 
display was displaced by books treating of Victoria and her reign, 
and old prints and photographs were everywhere seen. All dealers 
in flags and drapings were looking over their wares in anticipation 
of the demands of the week. 

WAITING FOR OFFICIAL INFORMATION. 

Over the court houses no lowering of flags was observed, for 
the judiciary always waits for official information. In the Natural- 
ization Bureau in the County Court House, Henry Zimmer, a 
British subject, was taking the oath of allegiance to the United 
States. He had raised his hand and was saying that he gave up 
* ' all allegiance to all foreign powers and potentates and especially 

to ." He was about to say "Victoria," when a man hastily 

entered the room and announced the death of the Queen. The 
officials held a consultation and decided that, in view of the fact 
that the Prince of Wales was not yet King of England, they could 
not naturalize Mr. Zimmer. Orders were given that no more British 
subjects should be naturalized until the succession was officially 
announced. 

News of the death of Queen Victoria spread rapidly along the 
water front, and every British vessel and many of those of other 
nationalities as well were soon displaying the lowered flags. The 
tugs in the harbor seeing the lowering of flags on shore, hastened 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 75 

to display the sign of mourning. Orders were given tliat all tlie 
steamers of the leading lines in port should display the flags. 

All the financial district of the metropolis put on the dress of 
mourning for the Queen. Wherever the American flag floated in 
the quarter devoted to finance it was displayed at half-mast. The 
Sub-Treasury flag was no exception. First of all the institutions 
in the Wall street district to recognize the loss sustained by the 
English people and to express American sympathy was the New 
York Cotton Exchange. This has notably close British interests, 
has not a few British subjects among its members, and cherishes a 
thoroughly friendly feeling for the people of England. 

GRACEFUL TRIBUTES FROM BUSINESS MEN. 

President S. T. Hubbard, of the Cotton Exchange, soon after 
the news of the Queen's death arrived by cable from Liverpool 
correspondents, sent back to Liverpool a cable of condolence, in 
which he quoted a bit of Byron's verse. The message read : — 

" We extend to the members of the Liverpool Cotton Associa- 
tion our heartfelt sympathy on the death of Her Majesty Queen 
Victoria. 

Soft as the memory of buried love : 

Pure as the prayer which childhood wafts above, 

was she." 

About two o'clock Mr. Hubbard stopped the daily conflict of 
cotton bulls and bears by calling the members to order, and said 
from the rostrum : 

" Gentlemen : On your behalf the officers of the Exchange, 
wishing to express to our friends in Liverpool the feeling of tender- 
ness and sympathy v/hich swells up in your hearts at the loss they 
have suffered in the death of that good and noble woman the 
Queen of England, have sent this cable." He then read the 
message. 

The members received it silently, and afterward many of them 
went to Mr Hubbard and expressed gratification at the action 
taken. 

On the occasion of President Garfield's death, London displayed 



76 VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 

half-masted flags and expressed the widest condolence, and upon 
September 26, 1881, the day of his funeral, the London Stock Bx- 
change closed three hours earlier than usual out of respect to his 
memory. The New York Stock Exchange took occasion to return, 
more than nineteen years later, this token of sympathy in kind. 

The feeling was universal among the bankers of the city that a 
noble woman's life and a most illustrious reign had come to an end 
with the death of Queen Victoria. 

" She was a good woman," said President J. Edward Simmons, 

of the Fourth National Bank, ' ' and set a noble example to her 

people. Her death will be mourned by the people of this country 

not only because of the superiority of her character, but because 

of the sympathy and friendship that she has always shown for this 

nation." 

UNBLEMISHED CHARACTER. 

" Queen Victoria," said President Warden Van Norden of the 
National Bank of North America, "was as great a woman as 
Elizabeth or any other female ruler in history, and her unblem- 
ished character has made her illustrious. As a large number of 
Americans regarded her with affection, I think it appropriate 
that signs of mourning should everywhere be displayed here." 

^' The affairs of the British Empire will go on without a ruffle," 
Cecil Baring said. " The Boer war will be continued. Prices will 
in no way be affected by the Queen's death." 

" The death of the Queen," said Henry Clews, who is of English 
birth, " is felt in America as almost a personal bereavement. The 
grief is not alone Britain's but the whole civilized world's." 

This despatch was sent to the Prince of Wales by the com- 
manders of the Salvation Army on Monday, the 21st : 

" On behalf of the American Salvationists we assure Your Royal 
Highness and members of the Royal family of our profoundest 
sympathy and prayers. 

" Frederick and 

" Emma Booth-Tucker." 

The following reply was received early next morning before the 
announcement of the Queen's death was made : 



VICTORTAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 77 

" Prince of Wales thanks the American Salvationists for tele- 
gram of sympathy." 

Sir Wilfred Laurier, the first French Canadian Premier of the 
Dominion of Canada, upon whom Her Majesty showered signal 
honors during her jubilee year, was deeply affected by the an- 
nouncement of Queen Victoria's death. His tribute to the Queen 
was uttered under the stress of strong emotion. He said : 

" We British subjects of all races and origins in all parts of 
the world were inspired by sentiments of exalted and chivalrous 
devotion to the person of Her Most Gracious Majesty. This devo- 
tion was not the result of any maudlin sentimentality, but it sprang 
from the fact that the Queen, the sovereign of the many lands 
which constitute the British Bmpire, was one of the noblest women 
that ever lived — certainly the best sovereign that Bngland ever 
had and the best that probably ever lived in any land. 

DISTRESSED BY BOER WAR. 

" We know that the present war in South Africa was particu- 
larly painful to Her Majesty. She had hoped that the closing 
years of her long and prosperous reign vv^ould not be saddened by 
such a spectacle, but it was not in the decrees of Providence that 
this hope and wish should be gratified. 

" We had hoped that when the end of this long and glorious 
reign came it would close upon a united empire, wherein peace and 
good will should prevail among all men. Let us still hope that this 
happy consummation may not be long delayed." 

In Ottawa, the capital of the Dominion, symbols of mourning 
for Queen Victoria appeared. The Parliament Building and the 
government offices were decorated in black. In all places of busi- 
ness portraits of Her late Majesty, shrouded in crepe were shown. 
As soon as the formal notice of the Queen's demise was received at 
Government House the following proclamation was issued : 

"Whereas, it has pleased Almighty God to call to His mercy 
our late sovereign lady. Queen Victoria, of blessed and glorious 
memory, by w^hose decease the imperial crown of the United King- 
dom of Great Britain and Ireland and all her other late possessions 



78 VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 

aud dominions is solely and rightfully come to the high and 
mighty Prince Albert Bdward Prince of Wales. 

" I, the said Gilbert John Elliot, Barl of Minto, etc., Governor 
General of Canada, assisted by His Majesty's Privy Council for 
Canada, hereby publish and proclaim that the high and mighty 
Prince Albert Edward is now by the death of the late sovereign of 
happy memory become our only lawful and rightful liege lord. 
Albert Edward, by the grace of God King of the United Kingdom 
of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India, defender of the 
faith, to whom let all, therefore, acknowledge faith and constant 
obedience, with all hearty and zealous affection, beseeching God, 
by whom kings do reign, to bless the royal Edward VII. with long 
and happy years to reign over us. God save the King." 

THE DOMINION IN MOURNING. 

Another proclamation followed ordering a period of mourning 
for the Queen. All social entertainments at Rideau Hall, the resi- 
dence of the Governor General, were cancelled. 

Mayor Morris said : " I think the judgment of history will 
concede her the foremost place among the monarchs and colossal 
figures of the nineteenth century." 

Queen Victoria's death nowhere created more genuine sorrow 
than in Canada, where much of the fervent loyalty of a large 
element of the population is due to a personal attachment to Her 
Majesty and to the liberal measure of the constitutional self-gov- 
ernment accorded to the Canadian people during the first years of 
Her Majesty's reign. Expressions of sorrow were universal and 
emblems of mourning appeared everywhere. Public aud private 
pending functions of a social character were everywhere cancelled, 
and the city of Quebec cancelled the week of winter sports arranged 
for the next month. 

' J. A. Jette, Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Quebec, 
wrote as follows : " The people of the Province of Quebec, espe- 
cially the French Canadians, will sincerely regret the death of 
Queen Victoria, whose reign has made them the most devoted and 
loyal of her subjects." 



VICTORIAN ERA ENDED BY HER MAJESTY'S DEATH. 79 

Mayor Parent, of Quebec, wlio is also Prime Minister of the 
province, said that Queen Victoria's life had been a model of public 
and private virtue. He forwarded the following message to the 
Governor General of Canada : 

" As true and loyal subjects of the British crown, we, the citi- 
zens of Quebec, are deeply afflicted by the news of the death of our 
most gracious and beloved Queen Victoria, of whose beneficent 
reign our hearts will preserve a lasting remembrance, together 
with the memory of her eminent qualities and of her truly Chris- 
tian virtues. We beg to tender to their most excellent majesties, 
our King and the Queen, their royal highnesses, the Prince and 
Princess of Wales, and to the members of the royal family the 
expression of our hearfelt condolence and of our deep sympathy." 

In far British Columbia similar signs of grief were displayed 
by all classes of the inhabitants. Never before in the history of 
British Columbia was the province thrown i.ito such great gloom 
as it was when the minute bells began to toll on the receipt of the 
news of Her Majesty's death. Victoria, the capital, had many flags 
at half-mast. 

The Mayor of Vancouver, B. C, senv d, message to King Bdward 
VII. and the roj^al family, expressing the deep sorrow of the citi- 
zens over the Queen's death. The moment the news of the 
Queen's death arrived a proclamation was issued b}'' the Mayor 
declaring that for twenty-four hours from noon on the 23d would 
be a period of mourning for Her Majest3^ 

Business was suspended immediately, and public and private 
buildings were draped in black. For one month the government 
officials and citizens generally were to wear crepe on their coat 
sleeves or hats. All newspapers issued special editions, heavily 
bordered in black. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Personal History of Queen Victoria. 

ALEXANDRINA VICTORIA, Queen of Great Britain and 
Ireland and Empress of India, was the daughter and onl}^ 
child of Edward, Duke of Kent. She was born at Kensing- 
ton Palace, London, May 24, 1819, her mother being Victoria Mary 
Louisa, daughter of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. The 
Duke of Kent died when Victoria was only eight months old, hav- 
ing caught a cold while romping with her, which resulted in pneu- 
monia. She was carefully trained by her mother, however, and on 
her accession to the throne, which followed on the death of her 
uncle. King William IV., June 30, 1837, she was accomplished nol 
only in the Continental languages, drawing, music and some of the 
sciences, but was thoroughly instructed in the principles of the 
British Constitution. 

CROWNED AT THE OLD ABBEY. 

Although the new Queen took office at once, retaining all the 
late King's Ministers, but exercising the duties of royalty, she was 
not formally crowned until a year later, when, on June 28, 1838, 
she was crowned at Westminster Abbey, with much pomp and 
ceremony and amid great public rejoicing. She was then twenty 
years old, and Carlyle wrote of her, in a private letter : 

' ' Going through Green Park yesterday I saw her little Majesty 
taking her departure for Windsor. I had seen her another day at 
Hyde Park Corner coming in from the daily ride. She is decidedly 
a pretty looking princess, health, clearness, graceful timidity look- 
ing out from her 3^oung face, fraile cockle on the black, bottomless 
deluges. One could not help some interest in her, situated as' 
mortal seldom was." 

They were, indeed, times of troubled politics, for it was a period 
marked by the mutterings of that popular discontent which found 
vent in the turbulent proceedings of the Chartists a year or two 
later. Sir Edwin Arnold has told again the story of how the young 

80 



PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 81 

girl received the news that her uncle was dead, and she was his 
successor. 

Being himself then very young, he says: " I did not K:now, 
and probably could not have understood, how the young Queen 
came out into the balcony from the window of the Presence Cham- 
ber at St. James's Palace, between Lords Melbourne and Lansdowne, 
and was hailed with thunderous cheers by vast crowds of her 
people, and how she was observed to shed tender and wistful tears 
at the moment of that imposing spectacle. When she retired to 
her mother's apartment, being proclaimed Sovereign, she held that 
conversation and made that request of which the world afterwards 
heard with so much sympathy : 

" ' I can scarcely believe, mamma, that I am really Queen of 
England. Can it indeed be so ? ' " 

THE CHILD WAS REALLY QUEEN. 

"'You are really Queen, my child,' replied the Duchess of 
Kent. 'Listen how your subjects still cheer your name in the 
streets and cry to God to bless you.' 

" ' In time ' said her Majesty, ' I shall, perhaps, become accus- 
tomed to this too great and splendid state. But, since I am Sov- 
ereign, let me, as your Queen, have to-day my first wish. Let me 
be quite alone, dear mother, for a long time.' 

"And that day Victoria passed the first hours of her reign on 
her knees, praying to heaven for herself and her people, with sup- 
plications innocent and noble, which have surely been heard." 

Fanny Kemble, who was present on the first occasion when 
the queen went in state to dissolve Parliament, a month after her 
accession, wrote : " The Queen is not handsome, but very pretty, 
and the singularity of her great position lent a sentimental and 
poetical charm to her youthful face and figure. The serene, serious 
sweetness of her candid brow and clear, soft eyes gave dignity to 
the girlish countenance, while the want of height only added to the 
effect of extreme youth of the round, but slender, figure and grace- 
fully moulded hands and arms. 

" The Queen's voice w^as exquisite, nor have I ever heard any 



82 PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 

spoken words more musical in their gentle distinctness tlian ' My 
Lords and Gentlemen,' wliich broke the breathless silence of the 
illustrious assembly, whose gaze was riveted on the fair flower of 
royalty. The enunciation was as perfect as the intonation was 
melodious, and I think it is impossible to hear a more excellent 
utterance than that of the Queen's English by the English Queen." 
Soon after her accession the Queen was called upon to sign the 
first death warrant. It was for the punishment of a deserter con- 
demned by a court-martial, and was presented by the Duke of 
Wellington; but her Majesty, finding that there was some testi- 
mony favorable to the accused, wrote, " pardoned " on the paper 
and pushed it across the table, while her hand trembled with 

emotion. 

HER DAILY HABITS. 

A contemporary account of the Queen's daily life at this time 
may be read with interest. It says : " She gets up soon after eight 
o'clock, breakfasts in her own room, and is employed the whole 
morning in transacting business. She reads all the despatches, 
and has every matter of interest and importance in every depart- 
ment laid before her. At eleven or twelve, Melbourne (then Prime 
Minister) comes to her and stays an hour, more or less, according 
to the business he may have to transact. 

"At two she rides with a large suite, and she likes to have it 
numerous. Melbourne always rides at her left hand and the 
equerry-in- waiting on her right. She rides for two hours along the 
road, and the greater part of the time at a full gallop. After riding, 
she amuses herself for the rest of the afternoon with music and 
singing, playing and romping with children, if there are any in 
the castle, and she is so fond of them that she generally contrives 
to have some there. The hour of dinner is nominally half-past 
seven o'clock, soon after which time the guests assemble, but she 
seldom appears before eight." 

Victoria's marriage to her cousin. Prince Albert, of the house of 
Coburg, was purely a love match. The Prince used to say that 
when a child of three his nurse always told him that he should 
marry Victoria, and that when he first thought of marriage at all 



PERSONAt HISTORY OF THE QUEEN 83 

he always thought of her. They were of the same age, the Princess 
being three nionths the elder. Their first acquaintanceship 
was in 1836, when both were seventeen years of age, at which time 
Prince Albert and his brother Brnest were invited to Kensington 
Palace, where they remained nearly four weeks, and a warm affec- 
tion grew up between Victoria and Albert. 

Her Majesty afterward wrote of him : " The Prince was at this 
time very handsome, but very stout, which he entirely grew out of 
afterwards. He was most amiable, natural, unaffected and merry, 
full of interest in everything." 

Three years later the two Princes again visited Bngland, 

Albert having spent the intervening time in studies at Bonn. 

During this time, both families being favorable to the match, the 

Queen heard nothing but good of her cousin, and, to use her own 

words, "she never had any idea, if she married at all, of any one 

else." 

A FASCINATING PRINCE. 

She did not, however, think of marrying at that time, as she 
believed they were both too young ; but Albert's visit changed her 
mind on that point. She found him, to use her own words again, 
"greatly improved, eminently handsome, in short, very fascinat- 
ing," and she afterward wrote : " Nor can the Queen now think 
without indignation against herself of her wish to keep the Prince 
waiting for probably three or four years, at the risk of ruining all 
his prospects for life, until she might feel inclined to marry." 
Prince Albert arrived October 10, 1839, and on the 15th the young 
Queen wrote to her old friend, Baron Stockmar: "Albert has 
completely won my heart, and all was settled between us this 
morning." 

The public declaration of the intended marriage was made 
with great ceremony on November 20th, a bill for the naturalization 
of the Prince was passed at once by both Houses of Parliament, an 
annuity of ^^30,000, ($150,000), was settled upon him, and the 
Queen gave him the title of Royal Highness. The marriage took 
place on February 10, 1840. The proclamation issued when Queen 
Victoria succeeded to the throne read as follows : 



84 PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 

Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to call to His mercy 
our late Sovereign and lord, King William IV., of blessed and 
glorious memory, by whose decease the Imperial Crown of the 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is solely and right- 
fully come to the high and mighty Princess Alexandrina Victoria, 
it is therefore here published and proclaimed that the high and 
mighty Princess Alexandrina Victoria is now, by the death of the 
late sovereign of happy memory, become our only lawful and right- 
ful liege. Lady Victoria, by the grace of God Queen of the United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, to' 
whom let all, therefore, acknowledge faith and constant obedience, 
with all hearty and humble affection, beseeching God, by whom 
kings and queens do reign, to bless the royal Princess Victoria 
with long and happy years to reign over us. God save the 
Queen." 

On the day the Queen succeeded to the throne the Privy 
Council met in the Council Chamber at Westminster, at ii A. m., 
and took the oaths of office in her presence. 

TITLE OF PRINCE OF WALES. 

The succession of the new" Prince of Wales to the title is quite 
different. When the Prince of Wales becomes King the title 
merges in that of Sovereign. The King then confers it by letters 
patent upon his son, if he sees fit. The Sovereign's eldest son 
becomes the Duke of Cornwall, automatically, as it were, and is 
entitled to the revenues of the duchy, which now amount to 
$50,000 per annum. 

On November 21, 1840, the Princess Royal was born, and 
almost exactly a year later, November 9, 1841, the Queen gave 
birth to her first son. Great rejoicing followed this event, and it 
was celebrated by an act of royal clemency. All convicts whoss 
records while in prison were good had their sentences commuted, 
and those deserving clemency on board the various hulks were 
given their liberty. The Queen wrote in her journal : " To think 
we have two children now, and one who enjoys the sight (the Christ- 
mas tree) already , it is like a dream." Another entry is : " Albert 



PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 85 

brought in dearest little Pussy (Princess Victoria) in such a smart 
white merino dress, trimmed with blue, which mamma had given 
her, and a pretty cap, and placed her on my bed, seating himself 
next to her, and she was very dear and good, and as my precious, 
invaluable Albert sat there, and our little love between us, I felt 
quite warm with happiness and love to God." 

One reads with sadness in these later years what she wrote to 
the King of the Belgians about her son, the Prince of Wales : " I 
wonder very much whom our little one will be like. You will 
understand how very fervent are my prayers, and I am sure every- 
body's must be, to see him resemble his father in every respect, 
both in mind and body." 

^A^ARS AND DISCONTENT. 

But the Queen's country was not as happy as her home. In 
1842 there was a terrible war in Afghanistan, in which the British 
troops suffered greatly, though they triumphed in the end. There 
was war with China, also, and at home there was much popular 
discontent on account of the Corn laws. There were fears of a 
Chartist rising, and to please the populace and offer a stimulus to 
trade, the Queen opened Buckingham Palace to a bal masque, 
always mentioned as "the Queen's Planta.genet ball." About a 
fortnight later she went to a grand ball at Her Majesty's Theatre, 
for the benefit of the Spitalfields weavers. In this year two 
attempts were made on her life, one by a man named James 
Francis, who fired a pistol at her as she was driving, and another 
by a deformed youth named John William Bean, who leveled a 
pistol at her but failed to discharge it. The former was sentenced 
to death, but his sentence was commuted by the Queen, and he v/as 
transported to Tasmania, while Bean was given eighteen months 
in Newgate prison. 

During the first few years of her wedded life the Queen was 
much concerned with the care of her children. She wrote to Lord 
Melbourne in 1842 : " We are much occupied in considering the 
future management of our nursery establishment, and naturally 
find considerable difficulties in it. Stockmarsays — and very justly 



86 PERSONAJ. HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 

— that our occupations prevent us from managing these affairs a? 
much our ownselves as other parents can, and therefore we must 
have some one in whom we can place implicit confidence." Such a 
person was found in Lady Lytton, who for eight years filled the 
office of governess to the royal children, and was much lamented 
when she resigned her office. 5 

" The Private Life of the Queen," a book written by one of her 
household, gives some interesting glimpses of the private life of 
Victoria and her children. It says the Queen ' always made time 
in her busy life to bathe with her own hands the last new baby,' 
and that the religious training of the royal children was entirely 
mapped out by the Queen, who drew up a memorandum which if 
given to the world in full, would prove of inestimable benefit to all 
parents, so kindly, so truly sympathetic, so earnest and womanly 
is it." 

Above all, the children were carefully kept away from the 
court, and it is recorded that "many of the Queen's ladies scarcely 
knew the royal children save by sight and by catchiug brief glimpses 
of them as they walked in the gardens with their parents, or some- 
times came to desert after dinner. The most carefully selected 
governesses and professors taught the children English, French, 
German and the arts." 

A FAITHFUL ADVISER. 

In all matters, both of the family and of State, the Prince Con- 
sort was Her Majesty's adviser, counselor and helpmate. Sir 
Theodore Martin says in his " Life of the Prince. : " '' Every 
enterprise of national importance claimed his attention, and in all 
things that concerned the welfare of the State, at home or abroad, 
his accurate and varied knowledge and great political sagacity made 
him looked to as an authority by all our leading statesmen." 

In another place, Sir Thomas says : " Like most men who 
have done great things in this world, the Prince got to his work 
early, and made good progress with it before other people were 
stirring. Summer or winter he arose, as a rule, at seven, dressed and 
went to his sitting-room, where in winter a fire was burning and a 



PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 87 

German reading lamp already lit. He read and answered letters, 
never allowing his vast correspondence to fall into arrears, or pre- 
pared for Her Majesty's consideration drafts of answers to lier Min- 
isters on any matters of importance. He kept up this habit to the 
close of his life, and his last memorandum of this description he 
brought to the Queen on December i, 1 86 1, at 8 A. M., saying, as 
he gave it : ' Ich bin so schwach, ich habe kaum die Feder halten 
konnen ' ( I am so weak I have scarcely been able to hold the 
pen)." 

In 1844 a residence was puchased at Osborne, on the Isle of 
Wight, and the Prince took great interest in planning the house 
and laying out the grounds, as well as in carrying out the farming 
operations which were conducted on the estate. In 1848 the Queen 
and her consort paid their first visit to Balmoral, the estate of the 
Earl of Aberdeen in the Highlands, which was subsequently pur- 
chased and became a favorite home of the Queen. The Prince drew 
a graphic pen picture of the place : 

" We have withdrawn for a short time into a complete moun- 
tain solitude, where one seldom sees a human face, where the snow 
already covers the mountain tops (in September), and the wild deer 
come stealthily creeping round the house ; scenes which, in her 
Majesty's own words, seem to breathe freedom and peace, and to 
make one forget the world and its sad turmoil." 

THE SPLENDID CRYSTAL PALACE. 

In 1849 the Prince projected the great Crystal Palace Exhibi- 
tion, enlisted the help of the most active members of the Society 
of Arts, and was instrumental in having the great enterprise put 
under way and pushed to completion. When the exhibition was 
opened on May i, 1851, the Queen wrote : "Albert is immortalized. 
To see this great conception of my beloved husband's mind, which 
is always laboring for the good of others, to see this great thought' 
and work crowned with triumphal success, in spite of difl&culties 
and opposition of every imaginable kind, and of every effort to 
which jealousy and calumny could resort to cause its failure, has 
been an immense happiness to us both." 



88 PBRSONAIv HISTORY OF THE QUEEN 

One of the Queen's last public appearances was during lier 
visit to Ireland. Slie met witli a great reception and entliusiastic 
multitudes testified tlieir profound respect for tlieir Sovereign. 
The exhibitions of loyalty to the throne were extremely gratifying 
to the Queen. 

For ten years before his death Prince Albert's health was bad. 
He was overworked, worn out by what he called " the treadmill of 
never ending business," One day, late in November, i86t, he 
went to inspect the building for a new Staff College and Royal 
Military Academy, at Sandhurst, and performed that duty amid a 
tremendous downpour of rain. A fever seized him, which developed 
into typhoid, and on the night of Saturday, December 14th, he 
died. 

The Queen's grief was intense, and, perhaps, the saddest ex- 
pression of it were her words, so often quoted, " There is no one to 
call me Victoria now." She suffered so keenly that, as Barnett 
Smith says in the " L-ife of the Queen," there was great anxiety at 
Windsor for her own life and that of the Princess Alice, who was 
also deeply grief stricken. 

PERIOD OF BITTER GRIEF. 

He says : " For three days they suffered terribly, and her Maj- 
esty's weakness was so great that her pulse could scarcely be felt. 
The Princess afterwards said that she wondered how her mother 
and herself had lived through those first bitter days. The Queen 
spoke about God's knowing best, but showed herself broken 
hearted. At length the country was relieved on learning that ex- 
hausted nature had somewhat recovered itself, and the Queen had 
slept. 

"Her Majesty was again and again urged to leave Windsor 
before the funeral, but she wept bitterly, and said her subjects 
were never advised to leave their homes or the remains of those 
lost to them. It was only when the safet}'- of her children was 
pleaded as a means of giving them immunity from the fever that 
she was prevailed upon to leave Windsor and repair to Osborne. 
Before her departure the Queen visited Frogmore to choose a site 



PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 89 

for the mausoleum where her beloved husband and herself were 

yet to lie side by side." 

Nor did she soon recover from the blow. " For some years 

after the death of the Prince Consort," says Macauley, " the Queen 

appeared very little in public. Overwhelmed with grief, she lived 

almost wholly in retirement ; but we are assured that, even at that 

time, no official duty was neglected." And when a terrible colliery 

disaster occurred, in which 204 lives were lost, her Majesty sent a 

message saying that, " her tenderest sympathy is with the poor 

widows and mothers, and her own misery only makes her feel the 

more for them." 

HER MAJESTY'S SECLUSION. 

The Queen's seclusion, however, was so distasteful to her 
subjects that many protests were made, privately, in the news- 
papers, and even in Parliament. So pressing did these complaints 
become that at last an article appeared in the London Times in her 
defence. There were rumors that it was from the Queen's own 
pen, but these were not confirmed. 

After touching on the popular expressions of feeling it said : 
" The Queen heartily appreciates the desire of her subjects to see 
her, and whatever she can do to gratify them in this loyal, affec- 
tionate wish she will do. Whenever any real object is to be 
obtained by her appearing on public occasions, any national inter- 
est to be promoted, or anything to be encouraged which is for the 
good of her people. Her Majesty will not shrink, as she has not 
shrunk, from any personal sacrifice or exertion, however painfuL 
But there are other and higher duties than those of mere represen- 
tation, which are now thrown on the Queen alone and unassisted 
— duties which she cannot neglect without injury to the public 
service ; which weigh unceasingly upon her, overwhelming her 
with work and anxiety. To call upon her to undergo, in addition, 
the fatigue of those mere state ceremonies which can be equally 
well performed by other English members of her family, is to ask 
her to run the risk of entirely disabling herself for the discharge of 
those other duties which cannot be neglected without serious 
injury to the public interests." 



90 



PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 



As late as 1866 that great Commoner, John Bright, felt called 
upon to defend at a public meeting the honor of the Queen against 
an attack made by a member of the Opposition, in which the 
speaker insinuated that the Queen was indifferent to public affairs. 

Mr. Bright said : " I am not accustomed to stand up in defence 
of those who are possessors of crowns, but I could not sit and hear 
that observation without a sensation of wonder and of pain. I 
think there has been, by many persons, a great injustice done the^ 

Queen in reference 



to her desolate and 
widowed position, and 
I venture to say this, 
that a woman, be she 
Queen of a great 
realm or the wife of 
one of your laboring 
men, who can keep 
alive in her heart a 
great sorrow for the 
lost object of her life 
and affection, is not 
at all likely to be 
wanting in a great 
and generous sym- 
pathy for you." 

"These remarks," 
says Rosa Nouchette 
Carey, in her memoir 




/y^s^^ 



HON. JOHN BRIGHT. 



of the Queen, " elicited immense applause, and the whole body of 
the people in the hall rose simultaneously and manifested their 
loyalty by singing a verse of ' God Save the Queen.' We do notj 
know if the Queen ever heard of the speech, but when Mr. Bright 
lost his wife a kind message came from Windsor Castle, expressing 
her sympathy in his bereavement." 

On July I, 1862, the Princess Alice, who had long been 
engaged to Prince Louis of Hesse, was married to him very 



PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 91 

quietly, the Queen sitting in the background, in deep mourning. 
The following month the Queen erected a cairn at Balmoral in 
memory of the Prince Consort. She wrote of it : "I and my poor 
six orphans all placed stones on it, and our initials as well as 
those of the three absent ones." In the autumn of that year Her 
Majesty was persuaded to resume her sketching, and in September 
she went to Germany and made a passing visit to King Leopold at 
Laeken, where she saw for the first time her future daughter-in- 
law, the Princess Alexandra of Denmark, who was married to the 
Prince of Wales in London on March lo, 1863, ^^^) though the 
Queen took part in the ceremony, she still wore her widow's weeds. 

THE QUEEN OPENING PARLIAMENT. 

On February 6, 1866, when the Queen opened the first session 
of her seventh Parliament she appeared in half mourning, a deep 
purple velvet robe, trimmed with white ermine. She came from 
her seclusion again when two of her daughters, the Princess Mary 
and the Princess Helena, were married, respectively, to the Duke 
of Teck and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, and again 
when, in October of the same year, she presided at the opening of 
the new water works at Aberdeen. In this year, also, a memoir 
entitled " The Early Years of the Prince Consort," compiled under 
Her Majesty's direction was published. 

From that time on the Queen appeared in public whenever any 
event of sufficient importance to warrant her doing so took place. 
In March, 1888, she met with a severe accident. She slipped on the 
stairs at Windsor and sprained her knee. For about a year the 
effects of the mishap caused her pain and much discomfort. 

Great preparations were made throughout the British Empire 
for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Victoria's accession 
to the throne. It was called " the Queen's Jubilee," and the cere- 
monies were begun on June 21, 1887, the exact date of the anniver- 
sary. The most notable ceremonies were held in London. 

The chief function on the opening day was a great procession 
of royal and otherwise distinguished persons which accompanied 
the Queen in her state progress to Westminster Abbey. The pro- 



92 PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 

cession included tlie Kings of Denmark, Belgium, Saxony, and 
Greece, and a large number of crown Princes, Grand Dukes and 
other titled persons. It was guarded by 10,000 British troops, to- 
gether witli the entire police force of London and its suburbs. The 
streets tkrough. which the procession passed were crowded with 
people to such, an extent never before witnessed in England, ex- 
cept, perhaps, on the occasion of the funeral of the Duke of Well- 
ington. 

London was profusely decorated, and at night was generally 
illuminated. The ceremonies at Westminster Abbey were of the 
most impressive character, and were witnessed by the Queen 
throned in state and surrounded by members of the royal family. 
On the 2 2d the Queen received addresses and gifts at Buckingham 
Palace, the gifts being articles of great value from all parts of the 
world^ including the sum of X75)000, ($375,000), presented by "the 
women of England." On the same day Her Majesty, v/ith the 
Prince and Princess of Wales, was present at a grand fete in Hyde 
Park, where she was received and welcomed by 30,000 children, and 
presented a memorial cup to a little girl chosen to represent the 
children present. 

HER STATUE AT WINDSOR. 

Another ceremony of the day was unveiling by Her Majesty 
of a statue of herself at Windsor, in the presence of an enormous 
gathering of people. The day was also celebrated in Paris by a 
Jubilee garden party at the British Embassy, and in the principal 
cities of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India by appropriate 
ceremonies, in which thousands of enthusiastic people took part. 
Addresses, telegrams and letters of congratulation from all parts of 
the world, including some from British citizens in the United 
States poured in, and the occasion was made one of general rejoic- 
ing all around the globe. 

On June 23d the Queen's Jubilee was celbrated by religious 
ceremonies of thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral ; on the 25th a 
State banquet was held at Windsor Castle, and on the 27th the 
Queen received there numerous delegations bearing congratulatory 



PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 93 

addresses. Ou the 28tli a Jubilee ball took place at the Mansion 
House, at which four Kings, several members of the British Royal 
Family and many foreign Princes were present. On the 29th the 
Queen gave a grand garden party at Buckingham Palace, and on 
July 2d she held a review of 28,000 volunteers at the same place. 

On July 4th she laid the first stone of the Imperial Institute 
at South Kensington, and on the 6th, by royal command, a state 
ball was given at Buckingham Palace, The Jubilee ceremonies 
proper w^ere closed on July 9th, with a grand review of 60,000 
troops — regulars, volunteers, and militia — at Aldershot ; though 
it was not until November 4tli that she made public proclamation 
of her thanks for the loyal demonstration of her subjects. 

THE DIAMOND JUBILEE. 

It was thought that the semi-centennial of her accession would 
be the crowning demonstration of Victoria's reign, but when her 
sovereignty was continued ten years longer it was determined to 
celebrate the completion of that term with ceremonies even grander 
and more elaborate. The Diamond Jubilee was, perhaps, the most 
conspicuous demonstration in the whole of the nineteenth century. 
It began on June 22, 1897, ^^^ lasted a month. On the first day the 
Queen, escorted by a gorgeous procession, went from Buckingham 
Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral, where a service of thanksgiving 
was held, and then returned to the palace through a circuit of 
richly decorated streets. 

In the parade v/ere 14,000 British troops, besides large contin- 
gents from India and the colonies. The Queen sent to every part 
of her empire an identical telegram, saying: "From my heart I 
thank my beloved people. May God bless them." As the cele- 
bration was planned, above all, to demonstrate the extent and 
power of the British Empire and the unity and loyalty of all its 
constituent members, simultaneous demonstrations were held in 
all the British colonies and dependencies, from the Northwest Ter- 
ritory of Canada to Cape Colony, and from Malta to New Zealand. 

Though the war clouds were even then gathering over the 
Transvaal, President Kruger marked the occasion by releasing two 



94 PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEER 

Utlander prisoners wlio had refused to sue for pardon. Tlie event 
was celebrated in various ways b}^ the British in the United States, 
and President McKinley sent a cable message felicitating the 
Queen on "the prolongation of a reign which has been illustrious 
and marked for advance in science, arts, and popular well being." 
Lord Salisbury, in moving a Parliamentary address congratu- 
lating the Queen on "the longest, the most prosperous and the 
most illustrious reign," spoke of it as a period marked by " a con- 
tinuous advance in the frontiers of this empire, so that many races 
that were formerly alien to it have been brought under its influ- 
ence, mau}^ who were formerly within its boundaries have been 
made to feel in some degree for the first time the full benefits of its 
civilization and its educating influence." 

VAST CHANGES GOING ON. 

He dv/elt also on the great political change : " The impulse 
of democracy, which began in another century and in other lands, 
has made itself felt in our times, and vast changes in the centre of 
power and the incidence of responsibility have been made almost 
imperceptibly, without any disturbance or hindrance i^"" the prog- 
ress of the prosperous development of the nation." 

The spectacular features of the celebration culminated in the 
great . naval review at Spithead on Saturday, June 28th. The 
vessels assembled, though they comprised only the Channel squad- 
ron and coast defense fleet, with a few additional ones, being only 
about half of the Queen's navy, formed a line twenty-five miles 
long, broken into five ranks of five miles each. There were 166 
British warships at anchor there, manned by 45,000 men. A 
number of foreign warships, among which the American cruiser 
Brooklyn, specially designated for the honor, was one, formed a 
sixth line, and a seventh was composed of seven of the largest 
ocean liners ; another American vessel, the New York, being in 
this line. 

At 8 A. M. a signal was given, and instantly every ship was 
covered with flags and bunting. Later the Prince of Wales and a 
royal party on the Queen's yacht, Victoria and Albert, reviewed the 



PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 95 

fleet ; wMle tlie guns of botli British and foreign vessels fired a 
salute of twenty-one rounds, and every ship was " nranned ** by 
sailors and marines standing in solid masses on the ironrclads and 
filling all the yards of the sailing craft. 

At night, there was a grand illumination of the whole fleet, 
and a royal salute of sixty guns was fired from every ship that 
had a gun to fire. The effect was that of a tremendous naval 
battle. Another spectacular display was given on July i, when a 
review of the troops was held at Aldershot, in which 27,359 officers 
and men, 5029 horses and fiftj^-seven guns were paraded. 

ATTENDING TO PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 

During these later years of her life, the Queen continued to 
give that close attention to public affairs which had always 
marked her conduct, and wherever she might be, whether in 
London, which she visited but rarely ; at Windsor, at Cowes or 
Balmoral, or in Southern Burope, to which she frequently went 
for a season of relaxation and in search of health, she was kept in 
constant touch with her Cabinet, and the special couriers, known 
as "Queen's messengers," were constantly traveling between 
London and her residence with bags filled with important papers 
for her consideration. 

She continued to keep an oversight on public business even 
when age and infirmity had so enfeebled her that she was scarcely 
able to walk the shortest distance, and after she was obliged to 
delegate the task of holding "drawing rooms" and other court 
functions to the Princess of Wales and other members of her 
family. Her mind remained clear after her physical faculties had 
begun to decay, and her people were spared the affliction of seeing 
their sovereign falling into that state of imbecility which so 
frequently accompanies extreme age. 

By her marriage with Prince Albert, Victoria had four sons and 
five daughters. They were Victoria, the Princess Royal, born 
November 21, 1840, married Janiiary 25, 1858, to Frederick 
William, then Crown Prince of Prussia and afterward Emperor of 
Germany ; Albert Bdward, Prince of Wales, born November 9, 



96 PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 

1841 ; Alice, born April 25, 1843, married in 1862, tq Prince 
Frederick of Hesse, died December 14, 1878 ; Alfred, Duke of 
Bdinburgb, born in 1844 ; Helena, born In 1846, married in 1866 to 
Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein ; Louisa, born in 1848, 
married in 187 1 to the Marquise of Lome (the only child of the 
Queen who married a subject) ; Arthur, Duke of Connaught, born 
1850 ; Leopold, Duke of Albany, born 1853, died 1884 ; Beatrice, 
born 1857, married 1885 Prince Henry of Battenberg. The grand- 
children of the Queen number very many, and she had also 
numerous collateral relatives. 

For twenty-one years Queen Victoria enjoyed the happiest of 
married life. The marriage with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg 
was one of real affection, which matured as time went on. In her 
letters to her uncle King Leopold and to Baron von Stockmar, the 
confidential counsellor of the royal family, and in the touching 
, insights into her life which have long been public property, there 
I is abundant evidence of her deep attachment to the Prince. 

HER UNSELFISH DISPOSITION.) 

As Lady Jeune has admirably expressed it : " It was not sur- 
prising that she should be so, for he was a most attractive person- 
ality. Handsome, cultivated and most unselfish and engaging, he 
was a man to win the heart of any girl. All through his life his 
whole heart and soul were given to the Queen, and he worked for, 
and thought of, naught else but her happiness and that of her 
people. The position was at first a hard and a trying one. 

"The House of Commons acted in the usually ungracious 
manner of that body by cutting down the Prince's allowance and 
by throwing difficulties in the way of the settlement of the ques- 
tion of precedence. Happily, however, these difficulties did not 
interfere with the absolute happiness of the newly-wedded pair, 
and in a very short time Prince Albert, by his discretion, tact and 
charm, had won all hearts and convinced every one that the 
Queen's choice had been a happy one for herself and the country." 

The Queen wrote in her diary in her early married days, when 
the Duke of Coburg, the Prince's father, had returned to Ger- 




THE QUEEN REVIhWING THE HONORABLE ARTILLtRY 
COMPANY AT WINDSOR 




PEiyiANPlNG ADIVIISSION FOR THE QUEEN AT DUBLIN CITY GATES 




SCHOOL CHILDREN PRESENTING FLOWERS TO THE QUEEIS| 
IN PHQENIX PARK 




THE QUE|N IN DUBLIN 




HER MAJESTY'S VISIT TO THE LORD LIEUTENANT AND 
COUNTESS GADOGAN AT DUBLIN GASTLE 




THE MARQUIS OF SALISBURY-PREMIER OF GREAT BRITAIN 




KING EDWARD PROPOSING A TOAST TO THE KHEDIVE AT THE 
GUILDHALL BANQUET 




VISIT OF THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES TO THE 
HOSPITAL SHIP AT SOUTHAMPTON 




TWELVE POUNDER FROM LADYSMITH PASSING THE PRINCE AND 
PRINCESS OF WALES ON THE HORSE GUARDS' PARADE 





THE PRINCE OF WALES INSPECTING THE IMPERIAL YEOMANRY 
FOR SERVICE IN SOUTH AFRICA 




Ql^EEN VICTORIA LISTENING TO A DISPATCH FROM THE SEAJ 
OF WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 




THE QUEEN PRESENTING FLOWERS TO THE WOUNDED DURING 
HiR VISIT TO THE HERPERT* HOSPITAL AT WOOLWIQH 




Q. a 
HI cc 
a: < 

CO Q 

S^ 
O ± 










FOR QUEEN AND EMPIRE 



PERSONAT. HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 9> 

many : " He told me tliat if I continued to love him as I did now I 
could make up for all. Oh, how I did feel for my dear, precious 
husband at that moment! Father, brother, friends, country — all 
has he left, and all for me. God grant that I may be the happy 
person, the most happ}^ person, to make this dearest, blessed being- 
happy and contented ! What is in my power to make him happyj 
I will do." 

The resolution was amply fulfilled. One of the Prince Con- 
sort's private letters on the death of the father who called out that 
expression of his wife's love contained the confirmation : " Victoria 
feels and shares my grief, and is the treasure on which my whole 
existence rests. The relation in which we stand to each other 
leaves nothing to desire. It is a union of heart and soul." 

SUITED TO EACH OTHER. 

The royal pair were not only happy in their mutual love, but 
also in the similarity of their tastes. These were simple, but their 
artistic instincts and the Prince's partiality for men of science 
brought to the court men of eminence who had nothing but praise 
for the generous atmosphere pervading it. The Prince became 
his wife's private secretary and lightened as much as possible the 
executive toil of mastering state papers submitted to her. 

On his side he was continually and anxiously watching every 
part of the public business, in order to be able to advise and assist 
the Queen in any of the multifarious and difficult questions 
brought before her — political, social or personal. On her part she 
did all in her power to make the position of the Prince, which had 
nev^r been properly defined, less difficult. 

One of her records is : "I told Albert that formerly I was too 
happy to go to London and wretched to leave it, and now, since the 
blessed hour of my marriage, and still more since the summer, I 
dislike and am unhappy to leave the country, and could be content 
and happy never to go to town. The solid pleasures of a peaceful, 
quiet, yet merry life in the country with ray inestimable husband 
and friend — my all in all — are far more desirable than the amuse- 
ments of London." 

7 . .- . 



98 PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE QUEEN. 

This fireside happiness of home, a particular trait in which 
Queen Victoria thoroughly exemplified a national characteristic of 
her people, was realized in two ro3^al country seats — Osborne and 
Balmoral. Both owed their creation to the Prince's fi^resight. 

" It is so pleasant," wrote the Queen, " to have a place of one's 
own, quiet and retired, and free from all Woods and Forests and 
other charming departments." By chance they pitched upon the 
estate in the Isle of Wight overlooking the Solent, an admirable 
marine >:esort. The house was rebuilt and the grounds and model 
farm laid out according to the designs of the Prince and Queen. 

A few years later Balmoral was purchased and developed in a 
similar way, to become "that home in the Highlands" which the 
Queen loved best for its associations with the Prince and the 
happiest days of the growing royal family. 

A ROYAL ALLIANCE. 

With the marriage of the Princess Roj^'al to the future Emperor 
Frederick of Germany came the first break in the circle. From their 
earliest infancy relations of the closest intimacy and affection 
subsisted between the Queen and her nine children. 

The children were brought up as simply and in as domestic a 
way as possible. They were, apart from their lessons, v/hich were 
intrusted to carefully chosen instructors, as much as possible with 
their parents, so as to learn to place their greatest confidence in 
them in all things. No luxuries were allowed in the royal nursery, 
and their dresses were as plain as their food, and many anecdotes 
relate the firmness with which any outbreak was checked. 

The Queen's letter to the Prince of Wales on the attainment 
of his majority, announcing his emancipation from parental author- 
ity and control, explaining why the rule adopted by herself and the 
Prince Consort for his education had been a severe one, " was," 
says Greville, "a very long letter, and it seemed to have made a 
profound impression on the Prince, and to have touched his feelings 
to the quick. He brought it to Gerald Wellesley in a flood of 
tears, and the effect it produced is a proof of the wisdom which dic- 
tated its composition." 



CHAPTER V. 

Additional Details of the Queen's Life. 

T^HH year 1817 was a memorable one in the history of England. 
^ Seldom had the prosperity of a country which had known 
no serious hitch or obstacle for a century been more seriously 
menaced ; never were the destinies of a constitutional monarchy 
that had stood the storms of eight hundred years enveloped in a 
more forbidding gloom. 

The death of the Princess Charlotte opened up the prospect 
of succession to the throne to the youngest son of George III., 
and had inspired him with a desire to marry. As yet the only 
sons who had taken wives were the Duke of York, who had chil- 
dren, and the Duke of Cumberland, whose first living child was 
not born till 18 19. 

FATHER OF VICTORIA. 

The fourth brother was Edward, Duke of Kent,' then fifty-one 
years of age. He was not on terms of ordinary friendship 
with any of his brothers. Suddenly he determined to marry. 

Victoria, daughter of Duke Franz of Saxe-Coburg, at that 
time thirty-two years of age, had taken the Duke's fancy. On 
July II, 1818, this lady became the Duchess of Kent, the future 
mother of the future Queen of England. 

When the Duke was informed by his consort that he had the 
prospect of an heir, it was his wish that the child should be born 
on English soiL The journey was attended with difficulty, for 
His Grace was much pressed for ready cash. In the spring of 
1819, however, the journey was made. The Duke and the Duch- 
ess were installed at Kensington Palace, then, as now, a place of 
residence for the members and proteges of the royal famil}^, and 
on May 24, 18 19, " a pretty little princess, plump as a part- 
ridge," was born. 

99 
LofC, 



100 DETAILS OF THK OUEEN'S LIFE. 

The Duke was deliglited with the child. He would daudle 
and caress her, and then hand her to the arms of admiring spec- 
tators with the caution, "Take care of her, for she will be Queen 
of England." His Grace did not live to enjoy his parental hap- 
piness long. 

It had been prophesied that two members of the famil}" 
would die in the course of 1820. The Duke believed the 
prophecy implicity, but he applied it to his brothers. In the win- 
ter of 1819 he had gone to the sheltered watering place of 
Sidmouth, in Devonshire, "to cheat," as he said, "the winter." 
One day he happened when taking a walk, to get wet and to catch 
cold. Acute inflammation of the lungs supervened. The Duke 
sent for another attendant and friend. General Weatherall, whose 
presence had so stimulating an effect on the prostrate nervous 
energies of the patient that he rallied suflicientl}^ to sign his will. 

THE CLOSING SCENE. 

"With dif&culty," writes Baron Stockmar, "he wrote 
'Bdward' below the last clause, looked attentively at each sepa- 
rate letter, and asked if the signature was clear and legible. 
Then he sank back exhausted onto the pillows. The next morn- 
ing all was over." "The poor widow," adds the same chronicler, 
"found herself, owing to the Duke's considerable debts, in a ver}^ 
uncomfortable position at the time of his death. Her brother, 
Leopold, enabled her to return to Kensington, where she hence- 
forth devoted herself to the education of her child. Queen 
Victoria." 

Six days after the death of the Duke of Kent, the prophecy 
above mentioned was completely fulfilled by the death of his 
father, George III. At half-past eight on the morning of Jan- 
uary 29, that monarch, worn out by mental malady and physical 
decay, breathed his last. On Monday, the 31st, the new sov- 
erign, the Prince Regent, was proclaimed George IV., with the 
usual formalities, at the palace. Temple Bar, Charing Cross and 
other places. 

Though the removal of the aged King, who had been so long 



DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIEE. 101 

debarred from taking an active part in political councils, whicli 
lie once not quite unsuccessfully asserted liis rigHt to control, 
was not practically felt in the conduct of the English govern- 
ment, it produced a profound emotion among the mass of the 
people. Following, as it did, upon the decease of the Princess 
Charlotte and the Duke of Kent, it awoke a sentiment of grave 
disquietude as to the eventual succession to the monarchy. 

The health of the new King was precarious, his age was 
advanced ; he had no legal heir. The Duke of York, the heir 
apparent, was married, had no family, and his Duchess was in a 
declining state. The Duke of Clarence, the next in order, was of 
ripe age. He had had two daughters born to him. Each of them 
had died in infancy, but further issue, though not probable, was 
still not an impossible contingency. 

THE FUTURE SOVEREIGN. 

The next in succession was the infant Princess at Kensing- 
ton Palace. Every year as it passed by made it more apparent 
that, if only the life of the royal babe were spared, upon her the 
monarchy ultimatelj^ must devolve. As a matter of fact, the 
prophetic boast of the Duke of Kent was fulfilled earlier than might 
have been anticipated. The Regent reigned for just ten years 
after his ascent to the throne as George IV. ; the Duke of Clarence 
just seven years as William IV. 

But it was not until she was twelve years old that the Prin- 
cess Victoria was permitted to know the high destiny reserved for 
her, and even then the knowledge came in an almost accidental 
manner. 

When she was about twelve years old the additional services 
of the Duke of Northumberland were called in for her education. 
In addition to French, German, and Italian, Latin, and a little 
Greek, she soon acquired an accurate acquaintance with the rudi- 
fments of more than one science, especially botany. Nor was she 
untrained in the graver and more momentous subjects of a royal 
education. 

Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, the brother-in-law of the late 



102 DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 

Duke of Kent, who exercised a general protection over tlie 
Duchess and her daughter, paid especial attention to the instruc- 
tion of the Princess in political and constitutional history. He 
had a a competent and diligent assistant in Baron Stockmar, 
while among Englishmen Lord Melbourne was not infrequently 
summoned to the educational council. 

Meanwhile the future husband of the Princess and her 
cousin was growing up in Germany. Prince Albert, the son of 
the Duke of Coburg, was born at Rosenau in the August of the 
same year as Princess Victoria, and it is a curious coincidence, 
considering the future connection of the children, that Mme. 
Siebold, the accoucheuse who attended the Duchess of Coburg at 
the birth of the young Prince, had only three months before 
attended the Duchess of Kent at the birth of the Princess. 

THE ROYAL MAYFLOAVER. 

"How pretty the little Mayflower," writes the grandmother 
both of Albert and Victoria, the Dowager Duchess of Coburg, to 
the Duchess of Kent, "will be when I see it in a year's time. 
Siebold cannot sufficiently describe what a dear little love it is." 

The Mayflower above spoken of was, of course, the Princess 
Victoria. From a very early period the Dowager Duchess per- 
mitted herself to entertain the hope that her two grandchildren 
would thereafter become man and wife. 

On February 25, 183 1, when not quite twelve years of age, 
she attended her first drawing-room. " Lady Jersey," writes the 
amusing Mr. Greville, "made a scene with Lord Durham. She 
got up in a corner of the room, and said : ' Lord Durham, I hear 
that you have said things about me which are not true, and I 
desire that you will call upon me to-morrow with a witness to 
hear my positive denial, and I hope that you will not repeat such 
things about me.' She was in a fury, and he in a still greater. 
He muttered that he should never set foot in her house again 
which she did not hear, and after delivering herself of her speech 
she flounced back again to her seat, mighty proud of her exploit 
It arose out of her saying that he should make Lady Durham 



DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 103 

demand an audience of tlie Queen to contradict tHe things which 
Lady Jersey said of her, and to other Whig allies." 

These were days in which party spirit ran high, and pene- 
trated the whole fabric of society in England. Within two or 
three years of this time Princess Victoria had taken her place in 
that society as the heiress to the English throne. 

In September, 1835, Her Royal Highness was the guest of 
the Duke of Rutland, at Belvoir. While there she was once more 
seen by the ubiquitous and all observant Mr. Greville. A few 
days after the visiting the home of the Manners she visited the 
Marquis of Exeter, at Burleigh. 

AN IMPOSING ESCORT. 

" They " — that is the Duchess of Kent and the future Queen 
— " arrived," writes the indefatigable diarist under date of Septem- 
ber 21st, "from Belvoir, at three o'clock, in a heavy rain, the civic 
authorities having turned out at Stamford to escort them, and a 
procession of different people all very loyal. When they had 
lunched, and the Ma3'-or and his brethren had got dry, the Duch- 
ess received the address, which was read by Lord Exeter, as 
Recorder. It talked of the Princess as ' destined to mount the 
throne of these realms.' Conroy handed the answer, just as the 
Prime Minister does to the King. They are splendidly lodged, 
and great preparations have been made for their reception." 

Mr. Greville was, however, present at a much more import- 
ant festivity, graced also by the young Princess, in the following 
year. On August 30, 1836, King William, who had acceded to 
the throne on the dee':h of his brother, in 1830, gave a dinner 
party at Windsor on his birthday. The Whig Ministry of Lord 
Melbourne was then in power, with each particular member of 
which his Majesty was at feud. 

Not one of the Ministers was invited to the Castle on this 
occasion, and none, except the household, in any way connected 
with the government. The King, we hear, in an excess of royal 
affection proposed the health of Princess Victoria after that of 
the Princess Augusta. 



104 DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 

"Aud now," said His Majest}'^, "Having given tlie Tiealtli of 
tTie oldest, I will give that of tlie youngest member of the royal 
family. I know the interest which the public feels about her, and 
although I have not seen so much of her as I could have wished, I 
take no less interest in her, and the more I do see of her, both in 
public and in private, the greater the pleasure it will give me." 

The whole thing, comments Greville, was so civil and gra- 
tious that it could hardly be taken ill, but the young Princess sat 
opposite and hung her head with not unnatural modesty at being 
thus talked of in so large a company. 

There was one person whom the King detested more even 
than his ministers — the mother of the Princess, the Duchess of 
Kent, who had not been sparing in her criticisms on the reception 
she had met from the royal family in England. The Duchess 
had applied for a suite of apartments for her own use in Kensing- 
ton Palace, and had been refused by the King. She appropriated 
the rooms, notwithstanding the denial. 

STORMY SCENE AT THE DINNER. 

The King informed her publicly that he neither understood 
nor would endure conduct so disrespectful to him. This, though 
said loudly and publicly, was only the muttering of a storm which 
broke next day. It was the royal birthday, and the King had 
invited a hundred people to dinner. The Duchess of Kent sat on 
one side of His Majest}^, one of his sisters on the other, and the 
Princess Victoria opposite. 

When replying to the speech in which his health had been 
proposed, the King burst forth in a bitter tirade against the 
Duchess. 

"I trust in God," he exclaimed, "that I may have the satis- 
faction of leaving the royal authority on my death to the personal 
exercise of that young lady — (pointing to the Princess) — the 
heiress presumptive to the crown, and not in the hands of a person 
now near me, who is surrounded by evil advisers, and who is 
herself incompetent to act with propriety in the station in which 
she would be placed. I have no hesitation in saying that I have 



DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 105 

been insulted, grossly and continually insulted, by tbat person, but 
I am determined to endure no longer sucli a comrse of behavior." 

The King particularly complained of the manner in which 
the Princess had been prevented from attending at court by her 
mother. " For the future," he said, " I shall insist and command 
that the Princess do upon all occasions appear at my court, as it 
her duty to do." 

Having begun with an anathema the King ended with a 
benediction, speaking of the Princess and her future reign in a 
tone of paternal interest and affection. The effect, however, 
which the royal utterances produced was alarming. The Queen 
looked in deep distress, the Princess burst into tears ; the 
Duchess of Kent said not a word, but soon after leaving the 
room announced her immediate departure, and ordered her car- 
riage. There had been as much of silly obstinacy and vanity on 
part of the Duchess as of surliness on the part of the King. She 
never missed an opportunity of provoking nor he of retaliating 
with insult. "Where's the Queen ?" he asked one day when 
dinner was announced. His Majesty was informed that she was 
w^aiting for the Duchess of Kent. "That woman," he shrieked, 



VERY WHIMSICAL AND IRRITABLE. 

His Majesty's health had been for some little time in a fail- 
ing condition. His ph^/sical weakness was aggravated by his 
constitutional irritability. He spoke of his ministers as if they 
were thieves, he treated his guests, personal friends and relatives 
alike, always with rudeness and sometimes with brutality. One 
day at dinner. King Leopold, who was on a visit to Windsor, 
called for water, when the King asked, " What's that you are 
drinking, sir?" "Water, sir." "What, water!" rejoined the 
'other King, "why don't you drink wine? I never allow anybody 
t3 drink water at my table." There was but one event which His 
Majesty wished to live to witness, in his "God forsaken realm." 
He devoutly prayed that he might live till the Princess Victoria 
was of age. His prayer was j ust granted, but only j ust. 



lOG DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 

For national purposes tlie Princess completed her majority 
on the eighteenth anniversary of her birth. 

On June 2, nine days after this event had taken place, the 
King was desperately ill. On the nth he was in his own opinion, 
though scarcely in that of his physicians, better. He sent a letter 
to the Princess Victoria, offering her ^10,000 ($50,000) a year, by 
Lord Conyngham, with a special command that it should be deliv- 
ered directly into her hands. The Duchess of Kent came forwards 
to receive it, but, hearing the royal command, drew back and the 
Princess took the despatch. The offer was accepted, but it was 
not fated to be fulfilled. 

"SUN OF WATERLOO." 

On June 18 he was sinking fast. The Archbishop of Canter- 
bury was called in to administer the sacrament. His Majesty 
was asked whether he was in need of anything. " This," was the 
reply, '' is the i8th of June. I should like to live to see the sun 
of Waterloo set." Later in the day the Duke of Wellington 
asked Greville whether Melbourne had had any communication 
with the Princess Victoria. Greville thought not. " He ought," 
said the Duke. " I was in constant communication with the 
present King for a month before George IV. died." 

Two days afterward it was all over. The King died at 
twenty minutes after two on the morning of June 20, and the 
young Queen met her Council at Kensington Palace at eleven 
A. M. the same day. 

"'Never was anything," wrote the Clerk of the Council, 
"like the impression she produced or the chorus of praise and 
admiration which was raised about her manner, and certainly not 
without justice. It was very extraordinary, and something far 
beyond what was looked for. The first thing to be done was to 
teach her her lesson, which, for this purpose, Melbourne had 
himself to learn. He asked her if she would enter the room 
accompanied by the grest Officers of State, but she said she would 
come in alone." 

After having received the two royal dukes, the two arch- 



DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 107 

bishops, the Chancellor and the Prime Minister — Lord Mel- 
bourne — the proclamation was read to the Council, the usual ordei 
passed, the doors were thrown open and the young Queen 
entered. 

In a passage in his novel of "Sibyl," which will probably 
live as long as English royalty itself, Benjamin Disraeli, with the 
assistance and data given him by Lord Lyndhurst, who was pres- 
ent on the occasion, has described the scene. "In a sweet and 
thrilling voice and with a composed mien, which indicated rathei 
the absorbing sense of august duty than an absence of emotion, 
the Queen announced her accession to the throne of her ancestors 
and her humble hope that Divine Providence would guard over 
the fulfillment of her lofty trust. 

TOOK THE SACRED OATH. 

" The prelates and chief men of her realm then advanced to 
the throne, and kneeling before her, pledged their troth and took 
the sacred oath of allegiance and supremacy — allegiance to one 
who rules over the land that the great Macedonian could not con- 
quer, and over a continent of which even Columbus never dreamed ; 
to the Queen of every sea and of nations of every zone." 

Less picturesquely elaborate, but not less interesting, is the 
account given of the proceedings by one who actually took a part 
in them, the Clerk of the Council. " After," he writes, " she had 
read her speech and taken and signed the oath for the security of 
the Church of Scotland, the Privy Councillors were sworn, the 
two royal Dukes first by themselves, and as these two old men, 
her uncles, knelt before her, swearing allegiance and kissing her 
hand, I saw her blush up to the eyes, as if she felt the contrast 
between their civil and natural relations, and this was the only 
sign of emotion which she evinced. 

" Her manner to them was very graceful and engaging. She 
kissed them both and rose from her chair and moved toward the 
Duke of Sussex, who was furthest from her, and too infirm to 
reach her. She seemed rather bewildered at the multitude of 
men who were sworn and who came, one after another, to kiss her 



108 DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 

hand, but she did not speak to anybody, nor did she make the 
slightest difference in her manner, or show any in her coun- 
tenance, to any individual of any rank, station or party. I par- 
ticularly watched her when Lord Melbourne and the Ministers 
and the Duke of Wellington and Peel approached her. 

" She went through the whole ceremony, occasionally looking 
at Melbourne for instruction when she had any doubt what to do, 
which hardly ever occurred, and with perfect calmness and self- 
possession, but at the same time with a graceful modesty and 
propriety particularly interesting and ingratiating." 

A DIFFERENCE ON GRAMMAR. 

Just after this an incident occurred curiously significant of 
the feeling that existed among the statesmen of the time. Every 
one admired the speech except Brougham, who said to Peel in a 
tone of irritated criticism : — 

" 'Amelioration' — that is not English ; you might, perhaps, 
say melioration, but improvement is the proper word." 

" Oh," said Peel, " I see no harm in the word ; it is generally 
used." 

"You object," said Brougham, "to the sentiment; I object 
to the grammar." 

"No," said Peel ; " I don't object to the sentiment." 

"Well, then, she pledges herself to the policy of our gov- 
ernment," said Brougham, "Peel told me this, which passed in 
the room and near to the Queen. He likewise said how amazed 
he was at her manner and behavior, and her apparent deep sense 
of her situation, her modesty, and at the same time her firmness. 
She appeared, in fact, to be awed, but not daunted, and afterward 
the Duke of Wellington told me the same thing, and added that 
If she had been his own daughter he could not have desired to 
see her perform her part better." 

The young Queen, was the verdict of all, behaved with a 
decorum and propriety beyond her years, and with all the sedate- 
ness and dignity the want of which had been so conspicuous in 
her uncle. 




DUKE OF WELLINGTON— THE HERO OF WATERLOO. 



109 



l;0 DKTAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 

By the succession of a female sovereign to the throne of 
Great Britain was severed the connection between the two king- 
doms of England and Hanover, which had subsisted since the 
accession of George I., and the establishment of which had cost 
the English people blood and money quite disproportionate to its 
advantages. The first signature to the Act of Allegiance that 
was presented to the Queen was that of her eldest surviving 
uncle, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, King of Hanover. 

The coronation of Victoria took place a year after the 
accession, on June 28, 1838. 

NEW ERA OF STATESMANSHIP. 

We may date from the accession of Queen Victoria not merely 
the revival of the sentiment of English loyalt}^, which the per- 
sonal influence and example of her two uncles had well nigh 
extinguished, but the inauguration of the era of popular states- 
manship. Active politics had been hitherto the monopoly of the 
great houses and the sovereign ; England had been, ruled from 
the throne or by its territorial aristocracy ; its Russells, its Caven- 
dishess, its Howards, its Manners, its Grenvilles ; George III., 
George IV. and William IV. were each of them time to time 
engaged in quarrels with their ministers and in battles with their 
commons. 

They had all exercised, or claimed, tke right to choose and 
dismiss their ministers at will. The aristocratic element in 
Englisk government still continued to be felt, but the time when 
the management of public affairs was vested exclusively in a few 
great houses, and when a king or a minister could disregard the 
popular will witb impunity had gone by forever. 

The Reform bill of 1832 had introduced a revolution in the 
igovernment of the country. For the first time England was self- 
governed, and the industry and intelligence of her population 
were represented in the councils of her rulers. Had Victoria 
been other tkan she was ; had she endeavored to revert to the 
aggressive traditions of her grandfather, George III., or had she 
even submitted herself to a constitutional instructor less prudent 



DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. Ill 

and patriotic thau Lord Melbourne, the popular movement of 
wHicli Karl Grey's Reform bill was at once tbe culminating 
triumph, and the supreme legislative encouragement might and 
probably would have been fatal to the existence of the Bnglish 
monarchy. 

The Queen was no sooner seated on the throne than, recog- 
nizing, if not b}^ her own observation, with the borrowed wisdom 
of others, the constitutional necessities of the period, she let it 
be knowii that she intended, only to reign as a constitutional 
sovereign. The period of popular legislation had already begun. 

The Corporation Reform bill and a bill for the emancipation 
of the slave ; a bill for shortening the hours of factory labor ; the 
new poor law ; the registration act, the reduction of the news- 
paper stamp, and a variet\' of proposals for church reform followed 
immediatel}^ the passing of Earl Grey's great measure. 

THE QUEEN'S POLITICAL FAITH. 

The change in person of the sovereign was a signal advantage 
for the whig administration of Lord Melbourne. The Young Queen 
had been carefully educated in whig principles, and that under the 
immediate supervision of the Whig Prime Minister. On the eve 
of the dissolution of Parliament, rendered ixccessary by Her 
Majesty's accession, the tories felt that their position was hopeless. 
The Duke of Wellington regarded the return of himself and 
his followers to power as impossible. " I " said he to a friend, 
"have no small talk, and Peel (referring to the notorious frigid- 
ity of that statesman's address) has no manners." The use made 
by the whig candidates in the general election of the Queen's 
name was characterized by their opponents as unconstitutional, 
and so, strictly regarded, it undoubtedly was. But it was exceed- 
ingl}'- effective, for the appeal to the country did not decrease the 
tory minorit}^ 

On November 30, 1837, the Queen opened her first Parlia- 
ment in person. The address was unanimously adopted in the 
upper house. In the House of Commons the first signs of dis- 
union in the Ministerial party presented themselves. Three 



112 DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE, 

amendments to tlie address, embodying the principles of tlie rad- 
ical party, who, having asserted their existence at the time of the 
Reform bill, had accepted that measure only as an installment 
and were determined to agitate for new and more drastic legisla- 
tion, were either rejected by a majority of nearly five hundred or 
else not pressed to a division at all. 

During this the first Parliamentary session of the Queen, 
government was further Aveakened by the mishaps in Canada, 
under the government of Lord Durham, and the insinuations 
against it, to which its apparent alliance with O'Connell at least 
gave color. Early in the following year, when Sir Robert Peel 
was entertained at a public banquet by 313 conservative members 
of Parliament, it was evident that the tory reaction was genuine, 
and that before long Lord Melbourne would have to succumb. 

ROBERT PEEL'S NEW GOVERNMENT. 

In less than twelve months' time, the government introduced 
the Jamaica bill, by which it was proposed, in the face of existing 
troubles, to suspend the constitution in that island. Its second 
reading passed only by a majority of five, which was practically 
a defeat. Lord Melbourne resigned, advising the Queen to send 
for the Duke of Wellington. 

Sir Robert Peel undertook to form a government. It was 
now that the Queen first gave proof of the possession of an inde- 
pendent will, and exercised it in a manner which gave rise to 
considerable apprehension. Sir Robert Peel demanded, as a 
mark of her confidence, and as he was constitutionally entitled 
to do, that Her Majesty should dismiss certain ladies related to 
members of the late Ministry holding high appointments in her 
household. 

Thus arose what is historically known as the "great bed- 
chamber question." The Queen refused, and persevered in her 
refusal. Sir Robert Peel desisted from his attempt, and Lord 
Melbourne and his colleagues resumed their offices. Her Majesty 
had carried the day. 

Great was the indignation of the country and terrible the 



DETAILS OF THE OUEExN'S LIFE. J 13 

invective of Lord Brougliam, who, though a whig himself, was at 
daggers drawn with the Ministers, and to whose attacks Lord 
Melbourne's government chiefly owed its fall, against this suc- 
cessful act of self-assertion of the Queen. "The Jamaica ques- 
tion," said the former Lord Chancellor, "is to be new fashioned, 
principles are to be given up, and all because of two ladies of the 
bedchamber." 

The actual fall of the Melbourne administration was delayed 
two years, when, having to face Parliament with a deficit of 
nearl}^ $10,000,000 in the Treasurj^, trade being in a deplorable 
state and the manufacturing districts overrun with pauperism 
and distress. Lord Melbourne ventured to subject the national 
coufidence in the financial capacity of his administration to a 
strain that it would not bear, by proposing a fixed eight shilling 
(sterling) duty on corn, which alarmed the agricultural interests, 
and b}^ lowering the duties on foreign sugar and timber, which 
terrified the commercial interests. 

THE NEWS IMPARTED TO OTHERS. 

This was in 1841, four years after the accession of her 
Majesty ; but meanwhile other events of nearly equal importance 
and of infinitely greater interest had happened in the life of the 
Queen. The hope of her grandmother had been fulfilled, and 
the two cousins — Albert, of Saxe-Coburg, and Victoria, of Eng- 
land — had become man and wife. 

On October 14, 1839 — that is, four days after her lover had 
reached Windsor — the Queen informed Lord Melbourne that she 
had made up her mind. On the 15th she thus wrote to Baron 
Stockman " I do feel so guilty I know not how to begin my 
letter, but I think the news it will contain will be sufficient t ■ 
insure your forgiveness. Albert has completely won my heart, 
and all was settled between us this morning. ''•'- '•' ■■•"■ I feel 
certain he will make me very happy. I wish I could say I felt 
as certain of my making him happy, but I shall do my best. 
ITncle Leopold must tell you all about the details, which I have 
not time to do." 



114 bi::TAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 

The of6.cial and public announcement of tlie betrothal was 
not made either in Germany or England till the close of the year. 
The intelligence was received with satisfaction, as Lord Mel- 
bourne had predicted, by the English people, for two reasons: 
first, because universal report spoke well of the Prince ; second 
{because it promised to sever finally the connection between Eng- ' 
land and Hanover. 

The forthcoming royal marriage was mentioned in the speech 
from the throne at the opening of the Parliament session of 1840. 
On January 9 Baron Stochmar had arrived in England as the 
representative of the Prince to settle the terms of the treaty of 
marriage and the necessary arrangements for the Prince's future 
household. Some little difficulty arose as to the appointment of a 
secretary for His Roj^al Highness. The discussions which grew 
oiit of his annuity and the definition of his status were more 
serious. The country had heard with relief, what was at first not 
specifically declared, that the future husband of their Queen was 
a sound Protestant. 

OPPOSITION TO THE GRANT. 

The Tories opposed the grant of ^50,000 ($250,000) which 
was suggested as the annual allowance to be made to the Prince. 
On the motion against it of Colonel Sibthorpe, supported by Sir 
Robert Peel, it was reduced to ^30,000 ($150,000). The debates 
on the social dignity which should be recognized as invested in the 
Prince were lengthy and tedious. Eventually Parliament con- 
fined itself to the simple naturalization of His Royal Highness. 

Leaving the question of precedence to be dealt with by royal 
prerogative, which it was in these terms, "that the Prince should 
thenceforth upon all occasions and in all meetings, except when 
otherwise provided by act of Parliament, have, hold and enjoy 
place, pre eminence and precedence next to Her Majesty," the 
distinctive title was accorded him. Nor was it till July 2, 1857, 
that the title and dignity of Prince Consort were granted to him 
by royal letters patent, long after that name had been conferred 
upon him by the spontaneous voice of the nation. 



DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 115 

The Prince arrived in England for his marriage on February 
6, 1840. The marriage took place on February loth, in the 
chapel of St. James' Palace. " The morning," writes Theodore 
Martin, in his "Life of the Prince Consort," "had been wet, 
foggy and dismal, but the day was not to want the happy omen 
of that sunshine which came afterward to be proverbially known 
as 'queen's weather.' Soon after the return of the bridal party 
from the chapel the clouds passed off, the sun shone out with 
unusual brillianc}'^, and the thousands who lined the roads from 
Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle to see the sovereign and 
her husband as the}^ passed were more fortunate than those who 
had crowded the avenues of St. James' Palace in the morning, 
heedless of rain and cold, to witness the bridal procession on its 
way to and from the chapel." 

BECAME AN OBJECT OF SUSPICION. 

Notwithstanding the cordiality with which the Prince, and 
the satisfaction with which the announcement of the marriage, 
had been received, it soon became apparent that the husband of 
the Queen was the object of much national suspicion and unpop- 
ularity. It was regretted after the event that the Queen had not 
married an Kuglish prince. It was protested that the influence 
of a foreign Prince on the counsels of the crown must be danger- 
ous to the empire. 

The Prince found his position one of extreme difiiculty. He 
had at once to maintain his rank and to disarm distrust. " In 
my home life," he wrote. May, 1840, "I am very happy and con- 
tented, but the obstacle to filling my place is that I am only the 
husband and not the master in the house." 

In this critical conjuncture the Queen exhibited rare tact and 
great determination. She persistently declined to yield to those 
v/lio were bent on detaching the Prince as much as possible from 
herself. By her marriage vow she had sworn to honor and obey 
him, and that vow she showed herself resolute upon faithfully 
executing. 

Meanwhile the Prince, who profited much from the friendship 



116 DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 

and advice of liis attendant, Baron Stockmar, having "laid down 
for himself the rule that no act of his should by any possibility 
expose him to the imputation of interference with the machinery 
of the state or of encroachment on the functions and privileges of 
the sovereign," gradually found his path made clear. 

Both the Queen and her husband were greatly indebted to 
Lord Melbourne, who set the example of showing equal respect 
to the ro3^al consort, and whose example was full of influence. 
The Prince's skill in music and painting were the means of giv- 
ing him a certain amount of popularit}^ He was appointed one 
of the directors of the ancient concerts ; he showed his interest 
in public questions b}^ presiding at a public meeting to promote 
the abolition of the slave trade. "He was, "says the Queen, 
"very nervous, and had repeated his speech to me in the morning 
by heart." 

GROWING POPULARITY OF THE PRINCE. 

In June it become known that there was the prospect of an 
heir to the throne, and a bill was passed appointing Prince Albert 
regent in the event of the Queen's death, a measure of the very 
greatest personal importance to the Prince, as it confirmed the 
status which there had recently been so strong an inclination to 
deny him, and thus afforded the strongest proof how well he had 
come to stand with both parties in politics. After this no repeti- 
tion of the difficulty arose. It was in 1841, the year of the final 
defeat of the Melboiirne Ministry, that Prince Albert for the first 
time figured somewhat prominently. 

Soon after the royal marriage Lord Melbourne expressed to 
Albert his conviction that the time had come when the court 
should treat all parties, especially the tories, in the spirit of r 
general amnesty. The following year. Lord Melbourne, who had 
all along been most anxious that the Queen should tell the Prince 
and show him everything connected with public affairs, "inti- 
mated that the political crisis could no longer be delayed. It 
was," His Lordship said, "the Prince's duty to prepare the Queen 
for the possible eventuality." 



DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 117 

A letter written by Baron Stockmar to the Prince about this 
period is memorable not only for the prudence of its advice, but 
because it embodies the principles on which the Prince Consort 
conscientiously acted. 

"If," wrote the Baron, "things come to a change of Minis- 
try, then the great axiom, irrefragably one and the same for all 
Ministries, is this, viz., the Crown supports frankly, honorably 
and with all its might the Ministry of the time, whatever it be, 
so long as it commands a majority and governs with integrity 
for the welfare and advancement of the country. A 
King who, as a constitutional King, either cannot or will not 
carry this maxim into practice deliberately descends from the 
lofty pedestal on which the constitution has placed him to the 
lower one of a mere party chief. Be you, therefore, the constitu- 
tional genius of the Queen. Do not content yourself with merely 
whispering this maxim in her ear when circumstances serve, but 
strive to carry it out into practice at the right time and by the 
worthiest means." 

COMMANDED THE CONFIDENCE OF THE COUNTRY. 

The severance of the official relations which had existed 
between the Queen and Lord Melbourne by the defeat of the gov- 
ernment of the latter was naturally a blow. It was, however, 
greatly mitigated by the consciousness that in her husband she 
had a constitutional counsellor not only safe, but one who com- 
manded the confidence of the country as well. 

Victoria was a woman of many bereavements. To say noth- 
ing of personal friends like Lord Melbourne and the Prince Con- 
sort's private secretary, Mr. Anson, the list may be said to have 
begun with the death of the Queen's mother, the Duchess of Kent, 
and closed with the immeasurable sorrow of the death of the 
Prince Consort. 

Never has a people shared more fully in the grief of a sover- 
eign, never have the highest and the lowest been brought more 
closely in touch, and the nation's love and sympathy more deep- 
ened when they heard that their QueeUj at Balmoralj had been 



nS DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 

mingling tears witli a poor widow on lier estate. "We both 
cried," said the woman afterward. " She was so thankful to 
cry with some one who knew exactly how she felt." 

"But you saw your husband's death coming," said the desolate 
Queen. "I — I didn't see mine. It was so sudden." It was sev- 
enteen years before another of the keenest bereavements of the 
Queen's life fell upon her. First came the sad tidings of the 
death of the tiny Princess May, in 1878, and then the mother, 
Princess Alice, who had nursed her husband and children with 
the most devoted affection as one after the other they were smit- 
ten down with diphtheria, herself fell under the power of the 
dread malady, and died on December 14, 1878, to the unspeakable 
grief of Her Majesty the Queen. 

But this loss of her own seemed hardly to distress her more 
than did the tidings which the following year came of the death 
of the young Prince Imperial, in South' Africa. "Poor, poor 
dear Empress !" wrote the Queen, "her only, only cnild — her all 
gone !" and she hurried all the way from Balmoral to London to 
show her sympathy with the heart-broken mother. 

DEATH IN THE ROYAL FAMILY. 

In 1884, the Duke of Albany, Prince Leopold died. He had 
always been the weakly one of the family, and in the spring of 
the year had gone to Cannes for shelter against the harsh winds 
of his own country. Here he had an accidental fall, and injured 
his knee, and while family solicitude was anxiously discussing 
the possible consequences of what was hoped would be nothing 
very serious there came the tidings that the young Prince had 
been seized with apoplexy and had died in the arms of his 
equerry. The year 1892 was marked by another sad event for 
the much sorrowing Queen and the large family about her. 

In this sorrow there was a touch of romance, which, no 
doubt, did much to quicken the nation's sympathy. The Duke 
of Clarence, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, had been 
engaged to be married to the Princess May, and the wedding was 
arranged for February, 1892. The Duke^ however, attended the 



DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. IJs; 

funeral of Prince Victor of Holienlolie, caught a severe cold at 
the open grave, and died, leaving the young fiance to be consoled 
by his brother, the Duke of York, to whom she was afterward 
married. 

The next calamity for the royal household was one that 
touched the Queen's motherly nature with a very keen anguish, 
for it seemed to be for the daughter Beatrice very much the same 
crushing blow that the death of her own husband had been to her. 
The Princess Beatrice was popularly supposed to be the Queen's 
favorite daughter. She was, at all events, her constant companion, 
her closest associate, and she had married Prince Henry of 
Battenberg. 

A HAPPY MARRIAGE. 

The quaint little church of Whippingham, in the Isle of 
Wight, was the scene of a very simple marriage ceremony, and 
the marriage appeared to be a very happy one. There were four 
children born to the young couple. The soldier, however, must 
needs see some active service, and at the outbreak of troubles in 
Ashanti he volunteered to go with the expedition, and out there 
he contracted malarial fever and died, and to the grief of all the 
royal family, and especially of her Majesty the Queen, who 
appeared to have had great affection for him. His body was 
brought home to England and laid to rest in the quiet little country 
church in which he had been married. The thought of the widow 
and the little famil}^, and the Queen's affliction at the tidings, 
created a strong sympathy all over the kingdom, and it was every- 
where expressed. 

"I have, alas, once more," said the Queen in one of those let- 
ters for which she has been remarkable, "to thank my loyal sub- 
jects for their warm sympathy in a fresh grievous affliction which 
has befallen me and my beloved daughter, Princess Beatrice, 
Princess Henry of Battenberg. This new sorrow is overwhelm- 
ing, and to me is a double one, for I lose a dearly loved and help- 
ful son, whose presence was like a bright sunbeam in my home, 
and my dear daughter loses a noble, devoted husband, to whom 



120 DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 

she was united by the closest affection. To witness the blighted 
happiness of the daughter who has never left me, and has com- 
forted and helped me, is hard to bear." 

Another sad blow was the death of Prince Alfred, Duke of 
Edinburgh, in July, 1900. He was at the time the ruler of the 
dukedom of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 

Contrary to general belief, the Queen experienced many 
'dangers, and it is questionable if there is any lady living at the 
present time who had as many and as varied escapes from death 
as Her Majesty. From her babyhood upward her life has been 
constantly imperilled. When only six months of age she 
escaped death almost by a miracle. Her parents, the Duke and 
Duchess of Kent, had taken the royal child to Sidmouth, Devon- 
shire, for change of air. A boy shooting sparrows was not aware 
of the presence of royalty, and by taking careless aim put the 
Queen's life in peril. Fortunately she was not injured. 

SAVED BY AN IRISH SOLDIER. 

Four 3^ears afterward the Princess' life was saved by an 
Irish soldier. The pony carriage in which she was driving upset 
and would have fallen on her had it not been for the promptness 
with which a soldier, who was passing by, seized the little girl's 
white frock and tossed her up into his arms. Curiously enough 
the soldier was not aware until very many years had passed that 
the child whose life he had saved had groAvn up to be the Queen 
of England. 

No fewer than seven attempts were made upon Her Majesty's 
life, but with the exception of a slight wound on her cheek, she 
escaped scratchless from all these dastardly attacks. 

A short time after her marriage an insane pot-boy, named 
Oxford, fired twice at the Queen in Hyde Park. 

Two years afterwards, as the Queen and Prince Albert were 
^driving home from church, the Prince Consort saw a man present 
a pistol and fire point blank at Her Majesty. The weapon, for- 
tunately, flashed in the pan, 

The p,^xt d^y the s^mQ. ©au,^ a fellow mined Fmncisj again 



DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 121 

fired at tlie Queen. This time he was captured, tried for high 
treason and sentenced to death, but by royal command his sen- 
tence was commutated to transportation for life. The very day 
the royal clemency was made known a deformed lad, named 
Bean, attempted to take Her Majesty's life. 

Seven years afterwards a man named Hamilton fired at the 
Queen, and the next year, a former captain of Hussars, named 
Pate, cut open Her Majesty's face with a blow from a stick. 

In 1872 a lad hamed O'Connor was prevented from firing at 
the Queen by the late John Brown, and ten years later, a man 
named Maclean fired at Her Majesty as she was entering her car- 
riage at Windsor Castle. 

PASSED THROUGH MANY DANGERS. 

Soon after the Coronation, when Her Majesty was driving 
with her mother near Highgate Hill, the horses took fright. 
They were stopped by a publican, who, when asked to name his 
reward, said : '' Permission to put the Queen's arms on my sign." 
Next day he received the present of a pocketbook from Her 
Majesty, of which he laconically observed that " it was heavy, 
very heavy." 

The Queen M^as also in peril of her life by a carriage accident 
in Scotland, and twice was in imminent danger at sea. When a 
girl of fourteen, during a yachting excursion, she was dragged 
from under a falling mainmast by a pilot named Saunders, and so 
saved from death. 

Forty-two years after this the royal yacht collided with a ves- 
sel named the Mistletoe, and two people were drowned within sight 
of the Queen. Her Majesty was in a railway collision in 1856. 

In the autumn of 1897 ^^^ carriage in which the Queen and 
her eldest daughter, the Empress Frederic of Germany, were rid- 
ing met with a mishap and the vehicle was wrecked, but owing to 
the care of the coachman the ladies escaped serious injury. The 
accident was an alarming one, but the Queen retained her pres- 
ence of miud, and was soon ready to perforni her duties as 
sovereign. 



122 DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 

Tiie Queen's will was made in 1876. It is a document of 
portentious length, being engrossed on vellum of quarto size, is 
bound up into a huge volume, which is secured by a lock, and at 
the end are several blank pages for codicils, of which up to the 
present the Queen has made three — one early in 1879, after the 
death of Princess Alice ; another in the summer of 1884, after thee 
death of the Duke of Albany, and another later, which deals 
exclusively with the jubilee gifts. 

Victoria resolved to be Sovereign from the start and Greville 
writes on June 25, 1837 : 

" Her Majesty has continued quietly at Kensington, where 
she transacts business with her ministers and everything goes on 
as if she had been on the throne six years instead of six days. It 
is an interesting speculation, to conjecture, how soon she will 
begin to think and act for herself upon higher matters as she has 
at once done on all minor points connected with her domestic 
arrangements." 

HAD A MIND OF HER OWN. 

This same spirit of independence wrought sore disappoint- 
ment to those who had hoped to strongly influence her reign, and 
to none was it more intensely disappointing than to the Duchess 
of Kent, her mother, who was given no part in court affairs. 
Victoria was dutiful, kind and affectionate to her mother, but 
offered her no part in State matters, and, Greville says, the 
Duchess complained bitterly of this. She was sensitive to any 
apparent slight or oversight. 

Indeed, this firm will, caused early in her reign, the downfall 
of a ministry, for when Peel came into power in 1839, she refused 
to change, in accordance with precedence, the ladies of the bed- 
chamber, and Peel resigned, leaving Melbourne to retain power 
until 1 84 1. Her firm determination to place the Prince Consort 
near the same royal plane with herself and before the royal 
family, in precedence, roused intense hostility, acrimonious dis- 
cussion and a final abandonment by Parliament of the Precedence 
bill, as it was called. Yet she determinedly succeeded in doing 



DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 123 

by royal patent what Parliament had refused to place among 
the statutes. 

In many other ways precedents were ignored and a new 
order of things conceived. The Queen's piety, stern detestation 
and punishment of all that savored of immorality, and encour- 
agement of all that is pure, generous and enlightened, soon; 
changed the atmosphere of the court that had for centuries 
reeked of licentiousness, selfishness, greed and brutality. The 
very first month of her reign laid the foundation for greater pros- 
perity, higher education and advanced civilization for the Eng- 
lish nation, and every year of the sixty, now drawing to a close, 
have justified the wisdom of Providence, which weeded out the 
succession of George III. 

THE QUEEN'S JUBILEES. 

Victoria had two j ubilee celebrations, but the grandest was 
that of June 22, 1897, celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of her 
accession. The pageant was the most magnificent ever seen in 
London-. The route of parade was five miles in length and the 
avenues were packed with people. Queen Victoria rose from her 
throne at Buckingham Palace at 11. 10 and slowly descended the 
stairs, assisted by a scarlet-clad and white turbaned Indian attend- 
ant. She was dressed in black, wore a black bonnet, trimmed 
with white, and carried a white sunshade. 

At the foot of the stairway Her Majesty paused for a minute 
and touched an electric button connected with all the telegraphic 
systems throughout the British Empire, and it flashed around 
the world the message : 

''From my heart I thank my beloved people. May God 
bless them." 

Her Majesty then slowly seated herself in her carriage, the 
royal trumpeters sounded a fanfare, the Princess of Wales joined 
the Queen, and then the Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein 
joined the party. Both the Princesses seated themselves opposite 
Her Majesty, and at 11,12 the Queen's coach started. Two 
gillies, in Highland costume, wearing the tartan of MacDonaldi 



124 DETAILS OF THE QUEEN'S LIFE. 

of the isles, tlie so-called Crown Prince of Scotland, occupied tlie 
rumble. 

On August I, 1849, Her Majesty visited her Irish dominions, 
landing at Cove, which has ever since borne the name of Queen.'^ 
town. The visit was repeated in 1853, to open the Dublin Exhi- 
bition. In April, 1900, she visited Ireland, the first time in 
thirty-nine 3/ears. She was cordially received by the Irish, and 
spent some time among them. 

LAMENTED THE \A^AR IN AFRICA. 

What saddened the last year of the Queen's life and probably 
hastened her death was the war between the Boers and Britons. 
President Kruger of the Transvaal Republic, declined Great Brit- 
ain's terms, and on October 12, 1899, war was declared. At the 
outset the British met with serious disasters, General Buller, the 
commander-in-chief, being defeated on the Tugela river and at 
Spion Kop with heavy losses. Then it was that Generals Rob- 
erts and Kitchener were ordered to South Aftica. Soon the con- 
dition of affairs changed. General Cronje and his army were 
made prisoners of war. Ladysmith, Kimberly and Mafeking were 
relieved, the British army advanced to the capital of the Orange 
Free State and that region was annexed to Great Britain. 

General Roberts marched to Johannesburg and occupied that 
city May 30, 1900, and Pretoria surrendered June 5, Kruger and 
his family having fled toward the Portugese dominions. Guerilla 
warfare has been kept up ever since by Generals DeWet, Delarey 
and others, and General Roberts having turned over the com- 
mand to General Kitchener, returned to London, where he had an 
enthusiastic reception and was made an earl by Queen Victoria. 
The British losses in South Africa aggregate 50,000 men and 
$400,000,000, but Parliament has voted to prosecute the war to the 
end. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Queen's Marriage with Prince Albert. 

THIS most important and national event took place at neon 
February loth, 1840, at the Chapel Royal, St James's ; and 

since tbe marriage of Her Royal Highness, the late Princess 
Charlotte of Wales, there had been no occurrence connected with 
the royal family of England which excited so great an interest It 
was known throughout the metropolis that the celebration of the 
marriage would take place at noon, instead of an advanced hour of 
the evening as had been heretofore the custom with respect to royal 
marriages. The knowledge of this fact brought many, many 
thousands from all sides of London into the Park at an early hour. 

Never did St James's Park present such an extraordinary 
display —never was such an immense multitude assembled there since 
therejoicings at the visit of the allied sovereigns in 1814. Asearlyas 
nine o'clock considerable numbers had arrivedin order to secure a good 
place from which to see the royal cortege pass from Buckingham 
Palace to St James's. By that hour the vicinity of Buckingham 
Palace, and all the avenues leading to both palaces vrere thronged. 

STREETS THRONGED WITH CHEERING THOUSANDS. 

As the day wore on to noon, the assemblage between the back 
of Carlton Terrace and the foot of Constitution Hill had increased 
to a dense mass of very many thousands, through which it was diffi- 
cult to keep open the carriage-way for that portion of the company 
who had the privilege of the entree. The very lowering aspect of 
the weather had no terrors for the visitors, male and female, young 
and old, who continued to arrive in masses. 

Nor was this pressure diminished to any important extent by 
the smart showers which came down at intervals. As each suc- 
cessive group of visitors arrived, they of course thickened the broad 
line of crowd at each side of the carriage-way between the two 
palaces. Those whose stations were in the rear of this line 

125 



126 MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 

soon got an opportunity of over-looking those in front by hiring 
standing-room on some one of the many hundred chairs, tables, or 
benches, which were let out at various prices. Many who could 
not afford, or would not pay for such a luxury, succeeded in getting 
on the branches of the trees as well out of as in the line of the ex- 
pected procession. The numbers who sought these commanding 
positions were so great in some of the trees that the branches gave 
way, and the parties came, not immediately to the ground, but on 
the heads and shoulders of the dense masses beneath them. 

AMUSEMENTS OF THE MULTITUDE. 

In the course of the morning the crowds in that part of the 
park situated between the back of Carlton Terrace and Marlborough 
House were much amused by a marrow-bone and cleaver concert, 
got up in honor of the royal nuptials, and we must do justice to 
those engaged by saying that the effect of this rude music was by 
no means disagreeable. Soon after the firing of the guns, announc- 
ing the most important part of the ceremonial, the placing the 
ring on her Majesty's finger, the whole mass of visitors who had 
not obtained fixed stands rushed almost simultaneously toward 
Buckingham Palace, in order to have a view of her Majesty and the 
Prince on their return. The pressure here became so great that it 
required the united and incessant efforts of the police and the 
Horse Guards Blue to keep the carriage-way open. The necessary 
but disagreeable part of their duty was performed with much good 
temper, and in general was received with good humor even by 
those who appeared to suffer a little from it. 

The police regulations in this part of the park, and, indeed, 
in every part, were admirably well arranged by Commissioners 
Rowan and Mayne, and their directions were carried out by the 
force-officers and men under ^heir command with great judgment 
and good temper. They hac^ m some parts of the line an arduous 
and difficult task to perform ; but we think that a great deal of their 
labor might have been saved by the erection of a strong barricade 
on each side of the line from Buckingham Palace to St. James's. 

The officers of the household and the attendants on her 



MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 127 

Majesty began to arrive at Buckingliani Palace about half-past ten 
o'clock. The Karl of Uxbridge, the Karl of Belfast, the Earl of 
Surrey, the Earl of Albemarle, Colonel Cavendish, Lord Alfred 
Paget, Sir George Anson, the lord in waiting, ladies in waiting, 
maids of honor, bedchamber women, gentlemen ushers, etc., were 
all assembled at eleven o'clock. After some little time had elapsed, 
othe ladies of her Majesty's suite were summoned by the master of 
•the horse, and handed into four of the royal carriages bj^ Colonel 
Cavendish (clerk marshal) and Lord Alfred Paget, and dispatched 
to St. James's Palace. 

At half-past eleven the six gentlemen composing the foreign 
suites of his Royal Highness Prince Albert and the Dtike of Saxe- 
Coburg-Gotha mustered in the grand hall. They appeared in dark 
blue or green uniforms, and three of them took their departure in 
a royal carriage for St. James's, accompanied by two gentlemen 
ushers of the Queen's household, to be in readiness to receive 
Prince Albert. 

THE PRINCE LEAVES THE PALACE. 

At a quarter to twelve, the royal carriages having returned, 
notice was given to the bridegroom that all was in readiness for his 
departure. The Prince immediately quitted the private appart- 
ments of the palace, and passed through the state rooms, into which 
a very few spectators were admitted. His Royal Highness was 
dressed in the uniform of a British field-marshal, and wore no 
other decoration than the insignia of the Order of the Garter, 
namely, the collar, with the George appended, set in precious 
stones, the star of the order set in diamonds, and the Garter itself, 
embroidered in diamonds, round his knee. The Prince was sup- 
ported on one side by his father, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 
and his brother, the hereditary prince. His Roj^al Highness Prince 
Albert was preceded by the lord chamberlain, the vice-chamberlain, 
the treasurer and controller of the household, Lord Torrington 
(who wore the insignia of. a Grand Cross of the Order of Saxe- 
Coburg-Gotha, with which he had been lately invested), the clerk 
marshal, equerries, gentlemen ushers, etc., the remaining portion 



128 MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 

of tlie foreign suite bringing up the rear. On descending the 
grand staircase, the favored few occupying the grand hall behind 
the Yeoman Guard received the prince with a loud clapping of 
hands, which his Royal Highness acknowledged in the most graci- 
ous manner. Indeed, to a group of ladies stationed close to the 
entrance, who were testifying their satisfaction, the Prince made 
his acknowledgments with an air of the most courteous gallantry. 

TRUMPETS SOUNDED AND COLORS LOWERED. 

The Prince entered the carriage amid the sound of trumpets, 
the lowering of colors, the presenting of arms, and all the honors 
paid to the Queen herself His Royal Highness, with his father 
and brother, occupied one carriage, and the attendants two other 
royal carriages. A squadron of Life Guards escorted the Prince to 
St. James's Palace. On the return of the lord chamberlain six of 
the royal carriages were assembled, and his lordship informed Her 
Majesty that all was ready. The Queen then left her apartment, 
leaning on the arm of the Earl of Uxbridge as lord chamberlain, 
supported by the Duchess of Kent, and followed by a page of 
honor. Her Majesty was preceded by the Karl of Belfast, the Earl 
of Surrey, Lord Torrington, the Earl of Albemarle, Colonel Caven- 
dish, Sir George Anson, Lord Alfred Paget, Mr. Byng, and several 
other of&cers of the household. 

The royal bride was greeted with loud acclamations on 
descending to the grand hall, but her eye was bent principally on 
the ground, and a hurried glance around, and a slight inclination 
of the head, was all the acknowledgment returned. Her Majesty 
wore no diamonds on her head, nothing but a simple wreath of 
orange blossoms. The magnificent veil did not cover her face, but 
hung down on each shoulder. A pair of very large diamond ear- 
rings, a diamond necklace, and the insignia of the Order of the 
Garter were the principal ornaments worn by the Queen. 

The Duchess of Kent and the Duchess of Sutherland rode in 
the same carriage with Her Majesty, and the royal cortege left the 
Palace at a slow pace, under a strong escort of the Household 
Cavalry. 



MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRIMC E AT, BERT. I2i^ 

At an early hour every public approach to the Palace was 
crowded by numbers of Her Majesty's loyal subjects, anxious to 
obtain, if possible, a view of the bridal procession and testify by 
their vociferous applause their perfect commendation of Her 
Majesty's choice of a Royal Consort. The court in front of the 
Palace was occupied bj^ the band of the Regiment of Blues, and one 
or two companies of the Grenadier Guards, and the whole of the 
line thence to the garden entrance of St. James's Palace was lined 
with Horse Guards and a strong corps of the police. The imme- 
diate road for the procession was kept clear with great difficulty, so 
numerous were the attempts from the pressure Avithout to break in 
on the line and secure a position where a sight of the royal pair 
might be better had. The police, however, notwithstanding these 
ebullitions of " popular feeling," conducted themselves with good 
terrs^er and maintained order without any violent exercise of their 
supreme authority. 

VOICES SHOUTING, " GOD SAVE THE QUEEN." 

Anxiously did the assembled multitude look for some signal 
of Her Majesty's departure from Buckingham Palace, and as car- 
riage after carriage rolled down the Mall, carrying some of the 
honored spectators to the chapel, the more impatient they became 
for the passing of the procession. Twelve o'clock at length 
arrived, and his Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended by a 
small escort of Horse Guards, and accompanied by his father, the 
Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and his brother, the hereditary 
prince, then left the Palace and proceeded to St. James's ; but, from 
the windows of the carriages being closed, the royal party were 
only partially recognized and passed along with but slight applause. 
At a quarter past twelve, however, the band in front of the Palace 
struck up the national air of " God Save the Queen," and by the 
tremendous shouts which resounded through the Park, it was pro- 
claimed that Her Majesty had entered her carriage and was then 
proceeding to St. James's to plight her troth to his Royal Highness 
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. 

As Her Majesty passed down the line she was most enthusi- 



130 MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 

astically cheered and appeared highly gratified by the loyalty 
which her subjects expressed, one or two ludicrous incidents 
among the crowd also exciting her smile ; but her countenance was 
extremely pale and appeared to betoken considerable anxiety. 
The cortege of Her Majesty was attended by a full guard of honor, 
but the carriages were drawn by only two horses each and without 
the rich comparison which they usually wear on state occasions. 

On the arrival of the Queen at St. James's Palace, Her Majesty 
was conducted to her closet, immediately behind the throne-room, 
where she remained attended by the maids of honor and train- 
bearers until the summons was received from the Lord Chamber- 
lain, conveying the intimation that everything was duly prepared 
for the Sovereign's moving toward the Chapel. 

Shortly after nine o'clock the seats in the colonnade began to 
be taken possession of, and ere many minutes had elapsed there 
were but few of the seats unoccupied, although there was an 
occasional arrival down to eleven o'clock. 

IMPRESSIVE AND BRILLIANT SCENE. 

At this hour the appearance which the scene presented was 
one of extreme animation, inasmuch as by far the greater portion 
of the assembled company was composed of elegantly, and, in some 
instances, brilliantly dressed ladies. It were a matter of impossi- 
bility to enter upon an attempt to give anything like a minute 
detail of the attire either of the one sex or of the other, for it 
comprised every known color and embraced every description of 
style of make. The most conspicuous dresses were of light blue 
relieved with white, light green, also intermingled with white, 
amber, crimson, purple, fawn, stone, and a considerable number of 
white robes only. 

Every lady exhibited a wedding favor, some of which were 
admirable specimens of a refined taste. They were of all sizes, 
many of white satin ribbon tied up into bows, and mixed with 
layers of rich silver lace, others merely of ribbon intermixed with 
sprigs of orange-flower-blossom, while were here and there to be 
seen bouquets of huge dimensions of ribbon and massive silver 



Marriage of the queen and prince albert. i3t 

bullion, having in tlieir centre what might almost be termed a 
branch of orange-blossoms. Large as they were, however, they 
were not more so than the apparent devotion of their owners, if the 
anxiety with which they watched every movement of the officials 
passing to and fro, from the instant they entered the colonnade 
until the last of the " men of state " had quitted the scene ^ may be 
taken as a criterion. 

It was remarked that "favors" did not form a very general 
appendage with the male branch of the spectators, notwithstanding 
there were many who had not failed to furnish themselves with 
this distinguished emblem of the occasion. Some gentlemen there 
were, also, who did not even pay this respect to their sovereign of 
providing court dresses. There appeared, nevertheless, to have 
been a unanimity of feeling with regard to the total banishment of 
black, except in a rare instance where a shawl or scarf of that hue 
was to be discovered. 

CRIMSON AND GOLD IN PROFUSION. 

The colonnade through which the procession passed to the 
Chapel was not only excellently arranged, but was admirably 
lighted from the lanterns above and the windows behind. The 
seats which were separated from the pillared colonnade by a dwarf 
railing, were covered with crimson cushions with gold-colored 
borders and fringe. All the remainder of this temporary structure 
had the semblance of having been constructed of solid masonry. 
The floor of the colonnade was covered with rich Brussels carpet, 
which extended into the vestibule, up the grand staircase to the 
armory, through the presence-chamber to Queen Anne's drawing- 
room, and thence to the ante-chamber and throne-room, 
where Her Majesty and Prince Albert's portions of the 
procession were marshaled. The seats erected for the accom- 
modation of the spectators were covered with crimson cushions and 
yellow fringe, thus sustaining uniformity throughout. They were 
railed off" from the line of procession. 

His Grace the Duke of Wellington passed through the 
colonnade, and was most warmly cheered, The duke slightly 



132 MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 

acknowledged tlie demonstration, and wended his way onward to 
the place allotted for the occupation of the veteran warrior in the 
chapel. 

Of course, anticipation long postponed, and the virtue of 
patience, even within the walls of a royal palace, and upon such an 
occasion, became exhausted, and the slighest action or movement, 
however trifling, which tended to create a diversion, or to shed a 
new feature on a scene which had grown somewhat monotonous, 
was hailed as a species of godsend, and accordingly the mere 
circumstance of the Rev. Lord Augustus Fitzclarence bringing for- 
ward one of the choir-boys, a lad apparently of seven or eight 
years of age, but particularly small, and examining his uncouth 
dress gave rise to consideiable merriment. The occasional passing 
to and fro of the mace-bearers — who, from their remarkable dress, 
namely, black, with large gold chains tied up on the shoulders 
with large white favors, excited a good deal of attention — was 
seized as fitting opportunity to indulge in laughter. 

OFFICIALS OF EVERY TYPE. 

But, looking at the mass which paraded the colonnade, we 
may say that there were burly Yeomen of the Guard with their 
massive halberts, and the slini gentlemen-at-arms with their lighter 
partisans, perpetually moving up and down the corridor, proud of 
the notice they excited. There were also elderly pages of state, 
and almost infantile pages of honor, officers of the Lord Chamber- 
lain's office, and officers of the woods and forest, embroidered heralds 
and steel-clad cuirassiers, robed prelates, stoled priests, and sur- 
pliced singing-boys to break the uniformity and vary the monotony 
of the scene. 

The principal entrances to the Chapel Royal were from the 
Ambassador's Court and the color quadrangle opposite St James's 
Street. The interior is oblong, standing east and west, about sixty- 
two feet in length and twenty-five in breadth. At the upper or 
eastern end is the communion table, and at the lower end, abutting 
over the main entrance, is the royal gallery or closet. Two galleries 
3Vipported, by cast iron pillars stretched east and west the entire 




133 



134 MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 

lengtli of the Chapel . On the floor, placed longitudinally, were two 
pews on each side of the Chapel, set apart for the chief nobility, and 
those who took part in the procession. The galleries, east and west, 
from both sides of the altar to the royal closet, were occupied — the 
upper end, on the right, by the cabinet ministers and their ladies, 
on the left by the ladies and officers of Her Majesty's household. 

Below the choir, on the right, and in the galleries opposite, 
usually appropriated as royal closets, the walls of t/lie building 
were thrown out, and six benches on each side fitted up for the 
accommodation of peers, peeresses, and other distinguished spec- 
tators. The ro3''al closet was assigned to the embassadors and their 
ladies, five rows of seats, elevated one above the other, having been 
erected for their accommodation. The whole of the seats in the 
chapel were stuffed, covered with crimson cloth, and elegantly orna- 
mented with gold fringe. On the communion-table was displayed 
a vast quantity of golden plate, including six salvors, one of gigantic 
dimensions, two ponderous and rich vases, four flagons, four com- 
munion-cups, and two lofty and magnificent candelabra. The 
cornice above the altar, of beautifully carved oak, was richly gilt, 
superb crimson velvet drapery depending from it in graceful folds 
upon the communion-table. 

HIGH ECCLESIASTICS PRESENT. 

Within the railing, which was also covered with crimson velvet, 
stools were placed on the right of the altar for the Archbishops of 
Canterbury and York, and on the left for the Bishop of London, 
dean of the Chapel Royal. In front of the communion-table were 
placed four chairs of state, gilt, and covered with crimson silk 
velvet, each of different construction, and varying in elevation, 
according to the dignity of their intended occupants. The highest, 
largest in size, and most costly workmanship, was of course appro- 
priated to Her Majesty, and was placed somewhat to the right of 
the centre ; that on the opposite side, immediately on Her Majesty's 
right hand, being set apart for His Royal Highness Prince Albert. 
Before these chairs, which were placed about six feet outside the rail, 
footstools were set of corresponding structure and decoration. There 



MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 135 

were also faldstools for Her Majesty and Prince Albert, on which, 
to kneel at the altar. On Her Majesty's left a chair was placed for 
the Duchess of Kent ; and at the opposite side, on Prince Albert's 
right, one for the Queen Dowager. 

On Her Majesty's extreme left were seats for their Royal 
Highnesses the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge ; and on Prince 
Albert's extreme right for His Serene Highness the reigning 
Duke of Saxe-Cobourg, the hereditary duke, and their Royal High- 
nesseti the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge, 
Princess Augusta and Princess Mary of Cambridge. The floor of 
the Chapel was covered with rich purple and gold carpeting, the 
prominent figure being the Norman rose. The tout ensemble^ both 
as concerns the extension, decoration and entire arrangements 
of the interior, completely harmonized with the original design 
and structure of the chapel ; simplicity and elegance, not show or 
gaudiness, being the uniform characteristic. The ceiling is com- 
posed of antique fretwork compartments varying in size and figure, 
on the paneling of which are emblazoned the quartering and heraldic 
distinctions of the different members of the royal family, from the 
time of its erection to that of His Late Majesty William IV. and 
Queen Adelaide. 

THE QUEEN IN ROBES OF SILK AND ERMINE. 

At about half past eleven o'clock the Archbishops of Canter- 
bury and York and the Bishop of London took their places within 
the altar. 

A few minutes before twelve the Queen Dowager entered the 
Chapel Royal through the dean's vestry door, and took her seat 
near the altar. Her Majesty was arrayed in a robe of rich silk 
purple velvet trimmed with ermine. The Archbishops of Canter^ 
bury and York and the Bishop of London immediately rose on the 
entrance of her Majesty. Her Majesty, after performing her 
private devotions, perceiving the most reverend prelates still stand- 
ing, sent Lord Howe, who was in waiting, to desire that they might 
take their seats. This act of considerate courtesy created a general 
sensation throughout the Chapej. 



136 MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 

A flourisli of trumpets and drums at twenty-five minutes pasl 
twelve o'clock give intimation that the procession of the royal 
bridegroom had commenced its movement, and shortly after it 
entered the colonnade in the following order : 

THE PROCESSION OF THE BRIDECxROOM. 

Drums and Trumpets. 

Sergeant Trumpeter, J. Rivett, Esq. 

Master of the Ceremonies, Sir Robert Chester, Knight. 

The Bridegroom's Gentlemen of Honor, between two Heralds. 

Vice-Chamberlain of her Lord Chamberlain of her 

Majesty's Household, Majesty's Household, 

Earl of Belfast. Earl of Uxbridge. 

THE BRIDEGROOM. 

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS FIELD -MARSHAL, PRINCE ALBERT, K.G., 

wearing the Collar of the Order of the Garter, 

supported by their Serene Highnesses, the reigning Duke of 

Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 

and the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 

each attended by the officers of their suite, namely. 

Count Kolowrath, Baron Alvensleben, and Baron de Lowenfels. 

As the Prince moved along he was greeted with loud clapping 
of hands from the gentlemen, and enthusiastic waving of handker- 
chiefs from the assembled ladies. He wore the uniform of a field- 
marshal in the British army. Over his shoulders were hung the 
Collar of the Garter surmounted by two rosettes. His appearance 
was attractive and with his pale and pensive looks he won golden 
opinions from the fair coterie on every side. His father and his 
brother were also welcomed with the utmost cordiality. Both 
seemed pleased with their reception, and the hereditary prince, who 
had more of determination but less of good-natured complaisance 
in his countenance than his brother, testified his sense of it by 
repeatedly bowing his thanks to the fair ladies at his side. 

On reaching the Chapel Ro3?al the drums and trumpets filed 
off without the doors, and, the procession advancing, his Royal 
Highness was conducted to the seat provided for him on the left of 
the altar. His Royal Highness walked up the aisle, carrying a 



MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 137 

book in his right hand, and repeatedly bowed to the peers in th( 
bod}^ of the Chapel. His form, dress, and demeanor were much 
admired. It might be said of him, iu che language of Scott: 

•'' Shaped in proportion fair, 
Hazel was his eagle eye, 
And auburn of the darkest dye 
His short mustache and hair. ' ' 

Having reached the altar, his Ro3/al Highness affectionately 
kissed the hand of the Queen Dowager, and then bowed to the 
archbishops and dean. Immediately on his entrance a voluntary 
was performed by Sir George Smart on the organ. The master of 
the ceremonies and the of&cers of the bridegroom stood near the 
person of his Royal Highness. The Lord Chamberlain and Vice- 
Chamberlain, preceded by the drums and trumpets, then returned 
to wait upon her Majesty. 

Meanwhile, his Royal Highness entered into close conversa- 
tion with the Queen Dowager until the trumpets and drums 
announced the moving of the Queen's procession. 

THE QUEEN'S PROCESSION. 

After having conducted the Royal Prince to the altar, the Lord 
Steward and the Lord Chamberlain quitted the royal bridegroom 
for the purpose of conducting the Queen to the altar. In a few 
minutes, that whicli was denominated the Queen's procession was 
-announced by a flourish of trumpets and drums as having been 
■put in motion. The procession passed through the colonnade up 
:o the Chapel doors. 

Scarcely any notice was taken of the individuals who led the 
way until the lord chancellor made his appearance. He was greeted 
with a few scanty cheers. Garter King-of-Arms, with all his 
heraldic pomp and pride, and the head of his college, the Karl 
Marshal the Duke of Norfolk, with all the blood of all the Howards, 
passed unnoticed in the throng. Her Royal Highness, the Prin- 
cess Sophia of Gloucester, who stopped to address Sir G. Murray 
as she passed, was cheered. The Princess Augusta of Cambridge 
excited general admiration by her affability and beauty. Her royal 



138 MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 

aunt the Princess Augusta was cheered. Her Royal Highness the 
Duchess of Cambridge led her young daughter the Princess Mary 
in her hand, and the mother of so beautiful a child was certain not 
to be seen without interest. Bvery sympathy was awakened on 
behalf of her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, mother of the 
Queen ; but she appeared somewhat disconsolate and distressed^ 
His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, who was to give away 
the royal bride, seemed in excellent spirits. Lord Melbourne 
carried the sword of state ; but little attention was paid to him. 
Her Majesty came next, looking anxious and excited. She was 
paler even than usual. Her dress was a rich white satin trimmed 
with orange-flower-blossoms. On her head she wore a wreath of 
the same blossoms, over which, but not so as to conceal her face, a 
beautiful veil of Honiton lace was thrown. 

ATTENDANTS OF THE ROYAL BRIDE. 

Her bridesmaids and trainbearers were similarly attired, save 
that they had no veils. The bridesmaids were in white, with roses. 
Her Majesty wore the collar of the Garter, but no other diamonds 
or jewels. Her attendants were arrayed with similar simplicity; 
and ladies more beautiful never graced palace, hall, or country- 
green. The praises which Dryden ascribed to the companions of 
his Queen in the " Flower and the Leaf " were equally applicable 
to these attendants of the young and amiable sovereign : 

** A train less fair, as ancient fathers tell, 
Seduced the sons of Heaven to rebel ; 
I pass their form, and every charming grace — 
Less than an angel would their worth debase ; 
But their attire, like liveries of a kind, 
Simple but rich, is fresh within my mind ; 
In satin white as snow the troop was gown'd, 
The seams with sparkling emeralds set around." 

Every face was turned upon them and their royal mistress. Theirs 
was fixed upon hers, and as they moved and turned in conformity 
with her steps, it was evident that female vanity was for a time 
deadened in their bosoms, and that they were thinking, not of the 



MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 139 

impression which, they themselves created, but of that which was 
created by the royal bride. They were followed by the Duchess of 
Sutherland. Of the ladies of the bedchamber and the maids of 
honor we have only to say that they did honor to the court and to 
their places in the procession. It was closed, not as the official 
statement announced, by six Yeoman of the Guard, but by two 
officers in polished cuirasses and in dirty boots, who commanded 
the squadron of Life Guards on duty at the Palace. 

SEATED IN THE CHAIR OF STATE. 

As her Majesty approached the Chapel, the national anthem 
was performed by the instrumental band. He Majesty walked up 
the aisle, followed by her trainbearers and attendants without 
noticing or bowing to any of the peers. On reaching the altar her 
Majesty?- knelt on her footstool, and having performed her private 
devotions, sat down in her chair of state. The different officers of 
state having now taken their seats in the body of the Chapel, the 
scene was splended beyond description. 

Lords, ladies, captains, councilors, and priests, 

Their choice nobility and flower ; embassies 

From regions far remote 

In various habits 

Met from all parts to celebrate the day. 

After the lapse of a few seconds her Majesty rose and advanced 
with his Royal Highness Prince Albert to the communion-table, 
where the Archbishop of Canterbury immediately commenced 
reading the service. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury read the service with great 
appropriateness and much feeling, the Bishop of London repeat 
ing the responses. 

When his Grace came to the words, 

"Albert, wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife, to 
ilive together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony ? 
Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor, and keep her in sickness 
and in health ; and forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her, so 
long as ye both shall liv9 ? " 



140 MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBER/ 

His Royal Highness, in a firm tone, replied ''I will." 

And when he said, ''Victoria, wilt thou have Albert to be thy 
wedded husband, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy 
estate of matrimony ? Wilt thou obey him, and serve him, love, 
honor, a nd keep in sickness and in health ; and forsaking all other, 
keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live. 

Her Majesty, in a firm voice, and a tone audible in all parts 
'of the Chapel, replied, " I will." 

The Archbishop of Canterbury then said, " Who giveth this 
woman to be married to this man ? " 

His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, who occupied a seat 
on the left of Her Majesty, now advanced, and, taking Her 
Majesty's hand, said, " I do." 

THEIR VOWS ARE PLEDGED.^ 

The Archbishop of Canterbury then laid hold of Her Majesty's 
hand, and pressing it in that of Prince Albert's, pronounced these 
words. His Royal Highness repeating them after his Grace. 

" I, Albert, take thee, Victoria, to be my wedded wife, to have 
and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer 
for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till 
death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance ; and thereto 
I plight thee my troth." 

Her Majesty repeated the words mutatis mutandis^ " I, Victoria, 
take thee, Albert, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold, 
from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, 
in sickness and in health, to love, cherish and obey, till death do 
us part, according to God's holy ordinance? and thereto I give 
thee my troth." 

The Archbishop of Canterbury then took the ring, a plain 
gold ring, from His Royal Highness, and placing it to the fourth 
finger of Her Majesty, returned it to His Royal Highness. Prince 
Albert put it on, repeating after his Grace these words : '' With 
this ring, I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all 
my wordly goods I thee endow ; in the name of the Father, and of 
the Sou, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen." 



MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 141 

The Archbishop then concluded the service as follows, Her 
Majesty and Prince Albert still remaining standing at the altar : 

"O Eternal God, Creator and Preserver of all mankind, Giver 
of all spiritual grace, the Author of everlasting life, send Thy 
blessing upon these Thy servants, Victoria and Albert, whom we 
bless in Thy name ; that as Isaac and Rebecca lived faithfully 
together, so these persons may surely perform and keep the vow 
and covenant betwixt them made (whereof this ring given and 
received is a token and pledge), and may ever remain in perfect 
love and peace together, and live according to thy laws, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

"Those whom God hath joined together let no man put 
asunder." 

The Park and Tower guns then fired a royal salute. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury then proceeded : 

" Forasmuch as Albert and Victoria have consented together 
in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this 
company, and thereto they have g'iven and pledged th^'jir troth 
either to other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving 
of a ring, and by joining of hands, I pronounce that they be man 
and wife together. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 

THE GRACIOUS BENEDICTION. 

"God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, bless, 
preserve, and keep you ; the Lord mercifully wath his favor look 
upon you ; and so fill you with all spiritual benediction and grace, 
that ye may so live together in this life, that in the world to come 
ye may have life everlasting Amen." 

The choir then performed the Deus Misereaiur (King's in B 
flat). 

It is but justice to the gentlemen of the Chapel Royal to state 
that this service was executed in a most effective and spirit-stirring 
manner. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury then proceeded : 

*'Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. 



142 MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaveri. 
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, 
as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not 
into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. 

" Minister. O Lord, save thy servant and thy handmaid : 

" Answer. Who put their trust in thee. 

" Minister. O Lord, send them help from thy holy place : 

" Answer. And evermore defend them. 

" Minister. Be unto them a tower of strength : 

" Answer. From the face of their enemy. 

''''Minister. O Lord, hear our prayer, 

" Answer. And let our cry come unto thee. 

" Minister. O God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, 
bless these thy servants, and sow the seed of eternal life in their 
hearts ; that whatsoever in thy Holy Word they shall profitably 
learn they may in deed fulfill the same. Look, O Lord, mecifully 
upon them from heaven and bless them. And as thou didst send 
thy blessing upon Abraham and Sarah, to their great comfort, so 
vouchsafe to send thy blessing upon these thy servants ; that they,, 
obeying thy will, and always being in safet}^ under thy protection, 
may abide in thy love unto their lives' end ; through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen." 

AT THE COMMUNION TABLE. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury proceeded to the end with the 
remainder of the service as prescribed in the Book of Common 
Prayer, Her Majesty and Prince Albert still standing before the 
communion table. 

The service having concluded, the several members of the 
royal family who had occupied places around the altar returned to 
take their positions in the procession. On passing Her Majesty 
they all paid their congratulations, and the Duke of Sussex, after 
shaking her by the hand in a manner which appeared to have little 
ceremony, but with cordiality in it, affectionately kissed her cheek. 
After all had passed with the exception of the royal bride and 
bridegroom, Her Majesty stepped hastily across to the other side 



Marriage of fhe queen and prince albert. i4g 

of the altar, where the Queen Dowager was standing, and kissed 
her. 

Prince Albert then took Her Majesty's hand, and the royal 
pair left the chapel, all the spectators standing. While the process 
sion was proceeding down the aisle Her Majesty spoke frequently 
to the Barl of Uxbridge, who was on her right hand, apparently 
giving directions as to the order of the procession. 

THE HAPPY PAIR. 

We have found it impossible, in our short description, to do 
justice either to the demeanor of the "happy, happy pair," which 
was firm, self-possessed, and dignified throughout, or to the various 
groups who gave interest and animation to the scene. The spec- 
tacle in the chapel, from first to last, was gorgeous in the extreme, 

Premier, prelate, potentate, and peer 

giving lustre and brilliancy to the whole. 

The deep interest taken by the spectators in the colonnade in 
the proceedings of the day was shown by the general silence which 
prevailed unto the period of the Queen's approach. As soon as she 
had passed into the chapel every tongue seemed set at liberty and 
a confused murmur arose, which compelled the attendants to close 
the doors of the ante-chapel, lest it should penetrate into the chapel 
where the solemn rites of religion were performing. A word, how- 
ever, from one of the officers of the Lord Chamberlain was sufficient 
to put an end to this impropriety. The doors were again opened, 
the music of the anthem was faintly heard, the signal guns ceased 
to fire, and at a few minutes past one the procession began to 
remarshal itself for its return. The bridegroom's procession, 
which was, however, robbed of his presence, returned first. 

Again were the Duke and Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg 
loudly cheered. The nuptial procession then returned in the same 
order as before. On the appearance of Her Majesty hand-in-hand 
with her royal husband the clapping of hands and waving of hand- 
kerchiefs were renewed time after time until they had passed out of 
sight. Whether by accident or design, His Royal Highness Prince 



144 



MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 



Albert inclosed Her Majesty's hand in his own in such a way as to 
display the wedding ring, which appeared more solid than is usual 
in ordinary weddings. On their return cheers were given to most, 
if not to all, of the ladies of royal birth who had received them on 
their approach. 

There was, however, one cheer fai more long and enthusiastic 

than any other of 
the day reserved 
for the Duke of 
Wellington as he 
left the chapel. He 
was not part of the 
royal procession; 
and it had passed 
to some distance 
before he made his 
appearance. As 
soon as he had ar- 
rived in the centre 
of the colonnade 
spont aneously, 
without any signal, 
and yet as if by 
common and uni- 
versal consent the 
company rose and 
gave him three 
hearty cheers. The 
heart of the vet- 
eran appeared gladdened by it. Lord Melbourne, who must have 
heard the uproar, took it as a hint that he had better return 
another way. Her Majesty then proceeded to the throne-room, 
where the form of attestation took place. Her Majesty and Prince 
Albert signed the marriage register, which was attested by certain 
members of the royal family and officers of state present. A 
splendid table was prepared for the purpose, and this part of the 




PRINCE ALBERT, CONSORT OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 




QUEEN VICTORIA-FROM HER UA3T PHOTOGRAPH 




THE QUEEN LEAVING THE VICEREGAL LODGE FOR AN 
AFTERNOON DRIVE 




THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES VISITING THE SALE OF THE 
INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION AT THE MANSION HOUSE, LONDON 




SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH 

:;hancellor of the exchequer, introducing the budget in the 
house of commons 




HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUCHESS OF TECK 




PRINCESS VICTORIA OF WALES 

SECOND DAUGHTER OF KING EDWARD 




THE LATE PRINCE ALFRED ERNEST ALBERT, DUKE OF 
EDINBURG AND, SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA 




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THE QUEEN RECEIVING A BOUQUET FROM THE OLDEST PENSIONER 
IN THE ROYAL KILMAINHAM HOSPITAL 




ALBERT MEMORIAL, LONDON 




Q. 

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Q. 

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KING OF §iAM REPLYING TO A TOAST AT THE BANQUET 
OF THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON 



MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 145 

ceremony, with the magnificent assemblage by which it was wit- 
nessed, presented one of the most striking spectacles of the day. 

During the interim of the bridal procession's leaving and re- 
turning to Buckingham Palace, there was nothing of any interest 
that occurred in the park, unless, indeed, we may mention a des- 
perate shower of rain, which besprinkled her Majesty's subjects, 
but did not appear to distinguish one spark of their loyalty. At 
about one o'clock the firing of the guns announced that the rinp- 
had been put on the finger, the important part of the ceremony 
concluded. 

After the ceremony, at twenty-five minutes past one, the first 
return reached Buckingham Palace, and consisted of the inferior 
officers of Prince Albert's suite, the Queen's gentlemen ushers, 
and a lady of her Majesty's household. At twenty minutes to two 
the Duchess of Kent returned ; her Royal Highness was accom- 
panied by her brother, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and Prince 
Ernest. The Royal Duchess was loudly cheered, which she ac- 
knowledged most graciously. Viscount Melbourne and Viscount 
Palmerson followed soon after in full official costume, then came the 
Marquis of Normandy, dressed in the uniform of a colonial gov- 
ernor, and at ten minutes to two o'clock the royal procession 
returned. "The Prince rode in the carriage with the Queen. 

WITH SMILING CONDESCENSION. 

His Royal Highness assisted her Majesty to alight, and led 
her into the Palace. The royal bride entered her ^wn hall 
with an open and joyous countenance, flushed, perhaps, in the 
slightest degree, and in the most smiling and condescending man- 
ner acknowledged the loud and cordial cheers which rang through 
the apartment. The royal bridegroom handed her Majesty through 
the state rooms. The Duke of Sussex soon followed. The duke 
was dressed in his uniform as captain general of the Honorable 
Artillery Company, and wore the collars and other insignia of the 
Orders of the Garter, Bath, and St. Andrew. 

The Duke of Cambridge arrived immediately after, accom- 
panied by the Duchess, Prince George, and the two Princesses. 

10 



146 MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 

His Royal Highness^ wore the insignia of the Orders of the 
Garter and Bath, and carried his baton as field-marshal. Prince 
George was dressed in the uniform of his regiment, and was deco- 
rated with the Order of the Garter. The Duke led in the little 
PrincesG Mary. The invited guests to the dejeuner followed each 
other in rapid succession. 

At Buckingham Palace there was a wedding repast, at which 
several of the illustrious participators in the previous ceremony, 
and the officers of the hoiisehold and ministers of state, were 
present. 

At the conclusion of the breakfast, arrangements were made 
for the immediate departure of Her Majesty for Windsor, and at a 
quarter to four the royal party left Buckingham Palace amid the 
cheers and festive acclamations of a vast multitude. The first 
carriage was occupied only by Her Majesty and Prince Albert : the 
second and three others by the lord and lady in waiting, the groom, 
equerry, two maids of honor, and other attendants of Her Majesty 
and His Royal Highness. Just before the royal cortege left Buck- 
ingham Palace, the sun shone forth with full brightness, the skies 
were cleared of their murky clouds, and all things seemed to promise 
future happiness for the illustrious pair. 

HO^V THEY ^A^ERE DRESSED. 

The Prince was dressed in a plain dark travelling dress, and 
Her Majesty in a white satin pelisse, trimmed with swansdown, 
with a white satin bonnet and feather. 

At an early hour considerably before sunrise the neighborhood 
of Constitution Hill began to exhibit signs of preparation for the 
approaching spectacle, which became more evident and more bust- 
ling as the day drew on. Parties of cavalry and infantry moving 
to their posts, orderlies dashing to and fro, groups of sight-seers, 
male and female, hurrying from every quarter toward Buckingham 
Palace ; and last though not least, numerous swarms of persons 
scattered over the Green Park, laden with planks, casks, chairs, 
tables, and other means of elevation for the purpose of giving a 
sight of the procession, denoting by their wild cries and determina- 



Marriage of The queen and prince albert. i4l 

tion, and cunning in baffling the efforts of the police to prevent their 
ingress into the park, the origin of the majority of them from the 
sister island ; all these gave a variety and life to the scene which 
almost compensated for the dullness and gloom of the morning. 

But, gloomy and unpromising as the morning was, the parties 
interested seemed determined to make the best of it, and good- 
humored jests circulating among the crowd, and now and then a 
short-lived squabble, whiled away the damp and heavy hours. At 
length, however, about eight o'clock amusement began to turn up 
in the arrivals of the guests invited to the royal nuptials, who, as 
they successfully filed under the triumphal arch, were challenged 
by the warder, and showed the pink or white cards which gave a 
title to admittance, lent an air of considerable liveliness to the 
scene, not unmixed with something of the feudal and the romantic. 

AROUND BUCKINGHAM PALACE. 

First came in various carriages and cabs, and vehicles of low 
degree, certain damsels who were pointed out as maids of honor, or 
persons otherwise appertaining to the royal household ; then a 
strong body of the Foot Guards marched toward the position allotted 
to them in the immediate neighbordhood of Buckingham Palace ; 
then came a body of the Horse Guards Blue, with fifes and cymbals 
playing merrily, and then the general company began to make 
their appearance. 

The ministers, with the exception of the Lord Chancellor, who 
wore his legal costume, were attired in the Windsor uniform of blue, 
guarded or turned up with an edging of oak-leaf in gold, but, 
strange to tell, they passed in every instance without the smallest 
notice, favorable or otherwise, on the part of the immense multi- 
tude who were congregated in this quarter. 

At a quarter to twelve the Duke of Cambridge and suite, in 
three of the royal carriages, drove through the gate, escorted by a 
guard of honor. The Duke of Sussex passed in a single carriage 
at a few minutes before twelve o'clock. The illustrious duke wore, 
as usual, his black silk skullcap, looked in very good health, and 
was very favorably received by the crov>^d. We should have said, 



148 MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 

however, tliat about a quarter to eleven the rain cleared off, afford- 
ing an opportunity to take a survey of the assembled multitude, 
which, though decidedly greater in numbers than any collected 
during this reign on a public occasion, was also decidedl}^ inferior 
in the proportion of well-dressed persons, and persons carrjdng the 
air of respectability. At the same time there appeared to be a very 
much smaller display of military as well as of civil force than was 
formerly usual. The police, however, in spite of the mob's restless 
importunity, displayed their habitual temper and firmness, and the 
soldiery their own unrivaled patience and good-humor. 

STRIKING PICTURE ALONG THE PARK. 

And so the day wore on, until about half past two o'clock, 
when, the rain and mist having cleared off, the scene from the 
triumphal arch was certainly striking, for as far as the eye could 
reach toward Kensington, along Hyde Park, the Green Park, and 
Piccadilly, the whole area was more or less thickly crowded with 
human beings, all anxiously expecting (though most of them at a 
distance disabling them from enjoying) the approach of their 
youthful monarch. At length, about half-past two o'clock, the 
passage of a party of Light Dragoons, on their way to the Palace, 
gave people cause to think that Her Majesty's appearance would 
not be wanting long, for it was conjectured, and rightly, that these 
troops were intended to form the escort of the royal pair to Windsor 
Castle. 

A few minutes past four o'clock the much-expected cavalcade 
drew near, a carriage with ladies of the household leading the way, 
a party of the cavalry following ; the royal traveling chariot con- 
veying Her Majesty and Prince Albert dashed rapidly under the 
triumphal archway amid the warm and enthusiastic cheers of the 
spectators assembled around, who were manifestly much captivated 
by the comely appearance of the Prince, and by the affable and 
graceful manner in which he acknowledged their notice. Her 
Majesty appeared in excellent health and high spirits, and bowed 
in return to the cheers of her applauding subjects with much 
earnestness of manner. 



MARRIAGE OF THE QlTEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 149 

The j3reparatioiis at Bton were on a grand scale. At the 
entrance of the precincts of the college, on the right-hand side of 
the road coming from London, and fronting the college itself, a 
large wooden structure, in form of a Grecian portico sixty feet in 
height, and of proportionate width, was erected. The whole of this 
erection was covered with variegated lamps ; on the pediment were 
the royal arms. An inscription or " legend," with the words 
" Gratulatio Victorise et Alberto," surmounted the pediment. The 
word " Ktona " was also conspicuous among the decorations. 
Seven large flags floated gallantly from the summit of the building, 
which exhibited considerable taste both in the design and embell- 
ishment. There were no less than 5000 lamps in this portico, the 
effect of which was at night very splendid. 

THE ILLUMINATED CLOCK TO\A^ER. 

The interior quadrangle of the college presented a brilliant 
appearance. The clock-tower, on the eastern side, was illuminated 
by a crown, surrounded with a wreath of laurel, having the letters 
" V. A.," the whole in variegated lamps. Beneath were three 
brilliant stars. The arch of the clock-tower was surrounded b}^ 
rows of lamps, and the eastern side of the quadrangle was elegantly 
festooned with lamps. The principle gateway into the quadrangle 
was also decorated with lamps, having the words " Floreat Btona " 
over the crown of arch. Several thousand lamps were employed 
on this part of the venerable edifice. There was also a triumphal 
arch of laurels and lamps across the road by the Christopher Inn. 

At the entrance into Bton the whole of the scholan; and 
masters of the school were collected, to the number of 550, wearing 
bridal favors, and from time to time was heard the noise of 
maroons, fired in token of loyalty and rejoicing. Besides the 
preparations at the college, the main street of Bton presented a 
lively appearance ; most of the houses were illuminated, and the 
principal tradesmen exhibited stars and other emblems of the 
joyous event. The whole place was in a state of bustle and excite- 
ment ; all was felicity. At the Christopher Inn a dinner was 
prepared for a large party of the inhabitants, and there werQ 



150 MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 

private parties at most of the houses of the dames and college 
authorities. 

In the morning the appearance of Windsor differed in no re- 
spect from its ordinary character, and scarcely a symptom was 
observable of an intention to make any public celebration of the 
royal wedding. All the shops were open as usual ; everyone seemed 
busy in his customary avocations ; no merry peel of bells 
welcomed in the day ; and the rain, falling in torrents, made the 
town look very dull and miserable. By degrees this melanchoi.y 
aspect of affairs wore away. The rain ceased ; in the afternoon the 
shops were closed, and the inhabitants having now nothing to 
detain them at home thronged the streets, decorated with wedding 
favors and dressed in the gayest possible style, and the prospect — 
so gloomy a short tiine before — became lively and charming. The 
sun shot forth its beams, and the bells, as if awakened from slumber, 
burst out in joyous chimes. 

THE POPULACE TURN OUT. 

As the day advanced, the weather grew more and more propi- 
tious, and numbers of strangers anxious to see Her Majesty with her 
illustrious Consort enter the noble palace of her ancestors at Wind- 
sor, poured into the place, conveyed in every conceivable description 
of vehicle. Most of these people after giving a hearty farewell cheer 
to the royal couple as they passed through the gates of the Castle, 
returned again to London, resolved to finish the amusement of the 
day by a sight of the splendid illuminations in town. About half- 
past two o'clock considerable excitement was occasioned among the 
various groups of persons waiting to see the royal cortege pass 
through High street by the appearance of the royal standard, 
which at that hour was raised at the Round Tower. 

Various were the conjectures as to the particular circumstance 
which the hoisting of this proud and noble banner might be intended 
to indicate ; but, having tired themselves with explanatory sugges- 
tions, the crowd came to the conclusion that it must be the signal 
of Her Majesty's departure from St. James's Palace after the con- 
clusion of the nuptial ceremony, At four o'clock a troop of Lif*^ 



MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 151 

Guards left Windsor for the purpose of meeting the royal cortege 
on the road and escorting it to the Castle. At this hour a dense 
concourse of persons had collected about the gates of the Castle, 
which appeared to be the point of greatest attraction, and an 
unbroken line of spectators extended from this spot to the extrem- 
ity of Eton, near to London. As always happens in cases like the 
present, the anxiously expected arrival was announced about one 
hundred and fifty times before it actually happened, and as each 
successive rumor turned out to be false it would not be easy to 
depict the momentary disappointment manifested by the impatient 
assemblage. 

The evening had closed in before the arrival of the royal party. 
The whole town was therefore illuminated before they entered, and 
the effect produced by the glitter of the lights on the congregated 
multitude was exceedingly splendid. Every house in Windsor was 
illuminated ; many of them were handsomely decorated with flags^ 
laurels, mottoes, and artificial bouquets. Ingenious devices and 
transparent representations of the Queen and Prince Albert were 
not few nor far between. The Town Hall, the White Hart Inn, 
the Castle Inn, and several houses in the neighborhood were con- 
spicuous for the brilliancy and beauty of their decorations. 

A LIVING MASS OF PEOPLE. 

At half-past six the crowd on the castle hill had become so 
dense that it was with difficulty the line of road for the royal car- 
riages was kept clear. The whole street was one living mass, 
while the walls of the houses glowed with crowns, stars, and all 
the brilliant devices which gas and oil could supply. At this 
moment a flight of rockets was visible in the air ; it was apparently 
over Eton, and it was immediately concluded that the Queen had 
entered Eton. The bells now rang merrily, and the shouts of the 
spectators were heard as the roj^al cortege approached the Castle. 

At twenty minutes before seven the royal carriage arrived in 
the High street, Windsor, preceded by the advanced guard of the 
traveling escort, consisting of a body of the Second Life Guards, 
commanded by Lieutenant Totenham, which relieved the Four- 



152* MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 

teenth Dragoons at Colnbrook. The shouts were now most loud 
and cheering, and from* the windows and balconies of the houses 
handkerchiefs were waved by the ladies, while the gentlemen 
huzzahed and waved their hats. The carriage, from the crowd, 
proceeded slowly, Her Majesty and her royal Consort bowing to 
the people. Her Majesty looked remar-kably well, and Prince 
Albert seemed in the highest spirits at th^ cordiality with which 
he was greeted. 

It was exactly a quarter to seven when the royal carriage drew 
up at the grand entrance. The Queen was handed from the car- 
riage by the Prince ; she immediately took his arm and entered the 
Castle. 

In the evening the auspicious event was celebrated by a public 
dinner given in the Town Hall. About lOO of the inhabitants of 
Windsor attended, the Mayor taking the chair, and being supported 
on either side by the members for the borough, Messrs. Ramsbottom 
and Gordon. At the conclusion of the dinner "Health and Long 
Lives to Victoria and Albert" was proposed by the Mayor and 
responded to in the most enthusiastic manner, the whole company 
rising and cheering for several minutes. The evening's entertain- 
ment was greatly advanced by two or three appropriate songs 
written for the occasion. 

Two other public dinners were given at the Castle Tavern and 
at the Star and Garter ; and several inhabitants of the town besides 
had private parties in honor of the royal wedding. 

While the *' great" feasted the " small" were not forgotten on 
this joyous occasion. A substantial dinner of good old English 
fare was provided for the poorer inhabitants of the place and the 
neighboring country, the expense being defrayed by a voluntary 
subscription, to which fund one hundred dollars were contributed 
by Her Majesty. Nearly 600 poor families, amounting probably 
to 2000 individuals, were by this considerate charity regaled at 
their own homes with a good dinner and some excellent beer, 
wherewith to do complete justice to the toast of " Health and Hap- 
piness to Victoria and Albert." 



CHAPTER VII. 

Epochs in Victoria's Long and Prosperous Reign. 

THE reign of Qneen Victoria may perhaps, for the purpose of 
the future historian, be divided into four periods, though not 
of equal length and importance. 

First, from her accession to the overthrow of Lord Mel- 
bourne's administration, in 1841. 

Second, from that event to the Crimean War. 

Third, from the Crimean War to the Reform Bill of 1867. 

Fourth, from the passing of that great measure to the pres- 
ent time. 

It is impossible for us to exhibit in chronological order or to 
examine with anything like exhaustiveness the different events 
of even personal interest to the Queen during each of these four 
periods. If we were to make the attempt we should be virtually 
writing the history of England for more than half a century. 
Adverting, therefore, to the second of the divisions which 
we have above made, we may say that the conservatives, under 
Peel, in their accession to power, found that they had a troublous 
conditions of affairs with which to cope. 

At home there were scarcity of work, low wages, high priced 
food. These privations were admirably borne, but it was impos- 
sible to tell when the popular patience might give way. As it 
was, serious insurrections, requiring to be put down by military 
force, broke out the next year in Staffordshire and South Wales. 

Abroad, England was involved in a serious Chinese war. In 
Afghanistan the greatest disaster which ever befell the British 
arm 3^ was impending. The presence of the English fleet in the 
Tagiis alone prevented a Portuguese insurrection. Spain was 
distracted by a ruthless civil war. America was exasperated 
against England on account of the right claimed by British crui- 
s«rsj and a question as to the marine frontier of a most urgent 

J53 



154 EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 

character was being pressed on for settlement. It seemed as if 
national bankruptcy were imminent. 

The income tax rose to yd. on the pound sterling on all 
incomes above £150 ($750), and the Queen greatly increased her 
popularity by declining to exercise her royal right of indemnity 
from the burden. Together with the Prince, she did all that she 
could to give a stimulus to trade by court festivities. Dinners, 
concerts and balls followed fast upon each other. On May 26 the 
Queen and Prince Albert went in state to a ball given at Covent 
Garden Theatre for the relief of the Spitalfields weavers. A mag- 
nificent bal costume had been given at Buckingham Palace with 
a similar object a fortnight before. 

This same year, notwithstanding the hearty efforts of the 
Queen to identify herself with her subjects and to promote their 
welfare, two attempts were made upon her life. Two years pre- 
viously an insane pot boy, Bdward Oxford, had fired a pistol at 
Her Majesty as she was driving on Constitution Hill. 

BALL FLEW UNDER THE CARRIAGE. 

Now the attack was repeated by one Francis with a similar 
weapon on nearly the same spot. The pistol ball passed under 
the carriage. About two months after this a hunchback named 
Bean similarly essayed the assassin's role ; but was prevented 
from accomplishing this object by a boy, Dassett, who happened 
to be near. 

It was in this year, 1842, that the Queen and the Prince 
Consort visited Scotland for the first time, a country which imme- 
diatel}^ made the favorable impression that soon deepened into an 
intense affection. The trip was something more than a pleasure 
tour, for the personal presence of the Queen and her husband had 
the effect of allaying the Chartist disaffection to the crown, of 
which the west of Scotland was in a way the headquarters. 

Perhaps the culminating triumph of the first seven years of 
the Queen's reign was that which Her Majesty achieved on 
October 28, 1844, when she opened the new Royal Exchange, in 
London. 



EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 155 

"Nothing," Her Majesty wrote to lier uncle Leopold tlie 
next day, " ever went off better, and the procession there, as well 
as the proceedings at the building, was splendid and i-oyal in the 
extreme. It was a fine and gratifying sight to see the myriads 
of people assembled, more than at the coronation even, and all in 
such good humor and so loyal. I seldom remember being so 
pleased with any public show, and my beloved Albert was most 
enthusiastically received by the people. The articles in the 
papers, too, are most kind and gratifying. They say no sovereign 
was ever more loved than I am (I am bold enough to say), and 
this because of our happy, domestic home and the good example it 

presents." 

"The feeling," comments Theodore Martin on this extract 
from the Queen's book, " to which voice was thus given by the 
press had taken widemost in the country. It was based upon two 
grounds — the exemplary home life of the Queen and the Prince 
and the purely constitutional attitude with relation to political 
parties which had been maintained by the sovereign." 

THE QUEEN ONE WITH HER PEOPLE. 

. A month later the Queen and Prince, being then en route to 
the superb plaisance of Lord Exeter, at Burleigh, already men- 
tioned in the course of this memoir, were enthusiastically wel- 
comed at Northampton, which had the reputation of being a cen- 
tre of radicalism. 

During the next ten years the life of the English Queen, if 
not uneventful, was at least not monotonous. The link of affec- 
tion which bound her to her people had been drawn closer by the 
birth of five children — that of the Princess Royal in 1840, of the 
Prince of Wales in 1841, of Princess Alice in 1843, of the Duke of 
Edinburgh in 1844 and of the Princess Helena in 1846, 

The four remaining children. Princess Louise, Prince Arthur, 
Prince Leopold and Princess Beatrice, were born between 1848 

and 1857. 

The existence of the royal family much resembled that of 
many of the more considerable of the Queen's subjects. There 



156 EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 

was the season iu London, graced by the court ceremonials, iia 
which Her Majesty aud the Prince Consort took a conspicuous 
part, and after the season was over, there were journeys to Scot- 
land, sometimes to Ireland, and occasionally to the Continent, 
followed by a brief period of residence at Osborne, in the Isle of 
Wight — purchased from Ladj^ Isabella Blatchford in 1844, its 
grounds being exquisitely laid out under the superintendence of 
aud from the designs of Prince Albert himself — or a long stay at 
Windsor. 

The defeat and resignation of the Peel government came in 
1846, consequent on its change of opinion on the subject of pro- 
tection. Home affairs had till then monopolized the interest of 
English politics, and it would be impossible to enter into the 
question of the connection of Her Majesty with these without 
opening what will long continue to be a vexed chapter in modern 
British history. 

GROWING INFLUENCE OF PRINCE ALBERT. 

It has, however, become tolerably clear, from correspondence 
since published, that during all these years the Queen was much 
more subject than had at one time been supposed to the political 
influence of Prince Albert, and especially of Baron Stockmar and 
King Leopold, Thus the jealousy which still lingered in the 
national heart toward the Prince, aud the reserve with which he 
was treated by Lord Palmerston, both then and later on, is 
neither unexplained nor altogether unjustified. 

In 1845 and 1846 the condition of England and Ireland was 
highly critical. In the former country there was great social 
distress ; in the latter there were both distress and disaffection, 
and the Queen was obliged indefinitely to postpone her visit to 
her subjects on the other side of St. George's Channel. The 
Spanish marriages which were announced, and which took place 
shortly after the accession of Lord Russell to power, in 1846, with 
Lord Palmerston at the Foreign Office, violating as they did exist- 
ing European treaties, were the prelude to the first grave diplo- 
matic complication of which the Queen had had experience, 



EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 



l57 



But such events as the Polish insurrection and the Portu- 
guese difficulty, which immediately followed these marriages, 
served not only to try the powers of the Queen, but also demon- 
strated that she possessed capacities of a high order. 

In 1874 there were published by Mr. Theodore Martin for 
the first time, in his "Life of the Prince Consort," a series of 
interesting memo- 
randa on the rela- 
tions of England 
with Italy and Ger- 
many, which, read 
in connection with 
the international 
sympathies that 
Her Majesty at a 
later period de- 
veloped, are sig- 
nificant proofs of 
the extent to 
which the Queen 
was indoctrinated 
with the ideas of 
her husband. 

We may inci- 
dentally notice 
that in July, 1847, 
the Prince was 
elected and installed as Chancellor of Cambridge University, 
the installation ode being written by the then Poet Laureate, 
Wordsworth. The record of the observed of all observers in this 
ceremony is interesting. 

"I cannot say," Her Majesty writes in her diary the same 
day, " how it agitated and embarrassed me to have to receive the 
address and hear it read by my beloved Albert, who walked in at 
the head of the University, and who looked dear and beautiful in 
his robes, which were carried by Colonel Phipps and Colonel Sey- 




LORD PALMERSTON. 



158 EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S RElGN. 

mour. Albert went througli it all admirably — almost absurd, 
however, as it was for us. He gave me the address and I rr:adthe 
answer ; a few kissed hands, and then Albert dined with tl;ie 
University. 

Two years later the Queen and Prince went to Ireland. ' ' Such 
a day of jubilee," wrote the London "Times," of the royal entry to 
the Irish metropolis, "has never been beheld in the ancient capi- 
tal of Ireland since first it arose from the banks of the Liffey. No 
ovation of olden Rome, enriched with the spoil of conquered 
nations and illustrated by the wealth of captured kings, was so 
glorious as the triumphant entry of Queen Victoria into Dublin." 
The visit was repeated in August, 1853, and again in 1861, when, 
with their two sons, the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred, the 
royal pair made a tour of Killarney, an expedition to the Curragh 
camp. 

But Scotland was the country of the Queen's heart. For 
many years of her married life she spent some weeks and often 
months, even summer and autumn, at or near Balmoral Castle, 
and after her widowhood it was in Scotland that she chiefly lived. 

OPENING OF GREAT EXPOSITION. 

On May i, 1851, the long cherished ambition of the Prince 
Consort was fulfilled by the opening of the great exhibition in 
Hyde Park, London, an event which collected a greater number 
of people than had ever been previously known in London. The 
Queen left Buckingham Palace a little belore twelve o'clock. Nine 
carriages conveyed Her Majesty, Prince Albert, two of the Royal 
children, with a number of visitors and attendants, up Constitu- 
tion Hill and along Rotten Row to the northern entrance of the 
industrial palace. As the cortege drew up the reception of Her 
Majesty was enthusiastic, and she entered the building amid a 
burst of genuine good feeling. 

The same year the Queen enjoyed an ovation at Manchester 
and Liverpool, and the exhibition closed. The sum realized by 
this vast show from its opening to its shutting was .^505,107 5s 
yd. ($2,535,535), including season tickets, catalogues and refresh- 



EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 



159 



ments. Of the nione}'' received at the doors ^^275,000 ($1,375,000) 
was in silver and ^80,000 ($400,000) in gold. 

The next year the Oneen was to sustain what was in a public 
sense the greatest loss of her reign in the death of the Duke 




VIEW OF EDINBURGH. 

of Wellington. At the time this occurred Her Majesty was in 

the Scotch Highlands. 

"I had just,'' she wrote in her diary, "sat down to sketch 
when Mackenzie returned bringing letters. Among them there 
was one from Lord Derby, which I tore open, and alas ! it con- 
tained the confirmation of the fatal news that Britain's pride, her 



160 EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 

glory, Her hero, the greatest man she ever had produced, was no 
more. Sad day ! Great and irreparable national loss. One can- 
not think of this countrj^ without the Duke, an immortal 
hero. The Crown never found, I fear never will, so devoted, loyal 
and faithful a subject, so staunch a supporter. His experience 
and knowledge of the past were so great, too. He was a link 
which connected us with bygone times — with the last century. 
Not an eye will be dry in the whole country." 

Within two years of the death of the Duke of Wellington the 
prophetic forebodings of coming ill which Her Majesty had long 
felt were realized by the outbreak of the war with Russia. While 
that bloody contest was going on the Queen endeared herself to 
her subjects by losing no opportunity of exhibiting her sympa- 
thies with those at home whose relatives were ordered on foreign 
service. 

SYMPATHY FOR THE TROOPS. 

" Let Mrs. Herbert," she wrote in 1854 to Mr. Sidney Her- 
bert, Secretary for War, "know that I wish Miss Nightingale and 
other ladies to tell these poor, noble, wounded and sick men that 
no one takes a warmer interest and feels more for their sufferings 
and admires their courage and heroism more than their Queen. 
Day and night she thinks of her beloved troops. So does the 
Prince." 

On the night of September 10, 1855, came the news of the 
capture of Sebastopol, and it is thus notified in the royal journal 
of that date: — "Our delight was great, but we could hardly 
believe the good news, and from having so long so anxiously 
expected it one could not realize the actual fact. Albert said they 
could go at once and light the bonfire which had been prepared 
when the false report of the fall of the town arrived last year, , 
and had remained ever since waiting to be lit. 

"In a few minutes Albert and all the gentlemen,in every spe- 
cies of attire, sallied forth followed by all the servants, and grad- 
ually by all the population of the village, up to the top of the 
cairn. We waited and saw them light the bonfire, accompanied 
by general cheering." 



EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 161 

On July 3 in the following year tlie Queen revis^wed in 
Windsor Park all the regiments returned from the Er.st, and a 
general order was issued at lier command to the army expressing 
Her Majesty's admiration of their good order, discipline, bravery 
and patience. " Tlie Queen," the address concluded, "deplores 
the loss of many of her best officers and bravest men, but history 
will consecrate the ground before Sebastopol as the grave of 
heroes." She had already performed a more graceful act in 
receiving the wounded guards at Buckingham Palace. 

Two years afterward the Indian mutiny broke out, and in its 
suppression the Queen once more showed her attachment to her 
troops and her appreciation of military courage b}^ instituting the 
distinction of the Victoria Cross for signal acts of valor in the 
presence of the enemy. 

NEW TITLE FOR THE SOVEREIGN. 

The suppression of the revolt W9S followed by the bestowal 
of a new titular honor on the Queen. On November i, 1858, the 
Governor General of India announced that henceforth all acts of 
the government of India would be done in the name of the Queen 
alone, and Her Majesty thus became Empress of Hindustan. 

The life of the Queen flowed on in an equable stream. She 
continued to take part in all the great national celebrations of 
the time, opening public edifices and inaugurating popular parks, 
and, with few exceptions, presiding in person at the commence- 
ment of the Parliamentary sessions. 

A memorable correspondence passed between Queen Victoria 

and President Buchanan, of the United States, in the month of 

June, i860. It had been stated that the Prince of Wales was 

about to visit Canada. President Buchanan wanted him to extend 

his trip to Washington. "You maybe well assured," he wrote 

to the Queen, " that every where in this country he will be greeted 

by the American people in such a manner as cannot fail to prove 

gratifying to Your Majesty." The invitation was accepted, with 

what brilliant results have been incorporated in our annals. 

But a bitter sorrow was in store for the Queen. In the siim- 
n 



]Cr2 EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 

mer of i86x slie and the Prince had visited the Scotch Highlands 
and Killarney. On December ii, same 3'ear, the nation was 
shocked b}^ the news of the Prince's death. It had indeed been 
known that he was nnwell, but it was thought that his indisposi- 
tion was trifling. Never was the sympathy of a people with its 
sovereign more complete ; never was that sympath}^ a greater 
support. 

" Of the devotion and strength of mind," wrote the London 
"Times" of that date, "shown by the Princess Alice all through 
these trying scenes it is impossible to speak too highly. Her 
Royal Highness has indeed felt that it was her place to be a com- 
fort and support to her mother in this affliction, and to her dutiful 
care we perhaps owe it that the Queen has borne her loss with 
exemplary resignation and a composure which under so sudden 
and terrible a bereavement could not have been anticipated." 

DUTY TO CHILDREN AND COUNTRY. 

After the death of the Prince the Queen, when the first 
passionate burst of grief was over, called her children around her 
and with a coolness which gave proof of great natural energy 
addressed them in solemn and affectionate terms. Her Majesty 
declared to her family that, though she felt crushed by the loss 
of one who had been her companion through life, she knew how 
much was expected of her, and she accordingly called on her 
children to give her their assistance, in order that she might do 
her duty to them and the country. Addresses of condolence were 
forwarded from all parts of the kingdom. 

But there followed with Her Majesty after the artificial 
energy with which she had inspired herself, a relapse and 
reaction — a sort of stupor. Still, on January i8, next year, when 
she heard of the disastrous explosion, she nerved herself to make 
the exertion of writing a letter, or rather, of commanding Colonel 
Philpps to write, expressive of her tenderest sympathy with the 
widows and mothers of the victims. 

"Her own misery," said the Queen, "only makes her feel 
the more for them. Her Majesty hopes that everything will be 



Epochs in Victoria's reign. 163 

doue as far as possible to alleviate their distress, and Her 
Majesty will have a sad satisfaction in assisting in such a 
measure." 

For more than two years after her husband's death the Queen 
withdrew into absolute seclusion, much to the commercial detri- 
ment of her people and the inconvenience of the public business. 
Yet she was not an unobservant and unsympathetic spectator of 
events. When the female Blondin was killed in Aston Park 
while performing on the tight rope, and when the disastrous flood 
at Sheffield took place, she sent addresses expressive of her sorrow 
at the calamaities. 

In 1864 the Queen for the first time reappeared in public, the 
occasion being a flower show at the Horticultural Garden, Ken- 
sington. This, however, was but an isolated occurrence, for after 
the death of the Prince Consort the Queen virtually abdicated her 
public position as English sovereign. 

EXACTING PUBLIC DUTIES. 

She has, indeed, taken a part in a host of philanthropic move- 
ments ; she has held occasional levees and given at Buckingham 
Palace ever and again garden parties and concerts ; she has enter- 
tained, though vicariously, the Shah of Persia ; she has received 
the Emperor of Russia on the occasion of his visit to his daughter 
and son-in-law at Windsor ; she laid the foundation of the Albert 
Hall in Kensington, and she opened Blackfriars Bridge. 

She, of course, conferred with her Ministers and af&xed her 
name to documents of state, but such royal court as has been held 
has been held by the Prince of Wales, and by far the greater por- 
tion of the Queen's time has been spent in Scotland and at Wind- 
sor, much to the dissatisfaction of her subjects, which may be said 
to have culminated in 187 1 in the inauguration of an avowed 
democratic agitation. 

Providentially the illness of the Prince of Wales supervened, 
and the procession of the Queen and her son to Westminster Ab- 
bey on the recovery of the latter from from his serious illness, 
almost fatal, was the signal for an outburst of wonderful enthu- 



164 EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S RElGN. 

siasni. But the condition of things was not satisfactory, and the 
retirement of Her Majest}^ produced a sentiment of latent indif- 
ference to the institution of royalty, the effect of whose operation 
the future can only show. 

The political results of the reign of Victoria in England may 
be described as tending in a direction eminently democratic. The 
assertion of the doctrine that the sovereign reigns, but does not 
govern, has become, for the first time in English history, under 
her, completely established. 

In her early days she was prevented from following the 
autocratic examples of her uncles and her grandfather by the pru- 
dent advice of those about her. In her womanhood she abstained 
from all interference with her Ministers, actuated by her personal 
experience and convictions of the necessities of the English mon- 
archy, and when womanhood was declining into age she conse- 
quently did not feel the temptation, as affairs certainly would not 
have admitted the possibility, of reverting tu the traditions of a 
regime that had become an anachronism. 

THE PEOPLE REALLY RULE. 

Thus it is that the whole government of Great Britain, whatever 
its title, is in reality a veiled republicanism Henceforward, who 
ever sits upon the throne of England must be content to know 
that divine right, perhaps even family right, has nothing to do 
with his title to allegiance, and that he derives the charter of his 
sovereignty from a people's Avill. 

But, though Queen Victoria has been satisfied to hold her 
sceptre upon these conditions, she declined in minor matters of 
of ceremonial or of state to surrender an atom of her personal 
dignity or her individual will. If the rebuke which she caused 
to be administered to Lord Palmerston on the occasion on which 
he had foregone the formality of showing her a diplomatic docu- 
ment before its final despatch were the only instance of her hostile 
collision with a Minister of State after the bedchamber dispute, 
there have been many cases in which she has asserted her deter- 
mination to insist upon all the usages of royal etiquette. 



EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 1G5 

It is even upon authentic record that more than one bishop, 
although singled out for promotion, was not finally advanced, in 
deference to her desire, while in the lesser classes of ecclesiastical 
appointments — canonries, archdeaconries and so forth-— her wish 
was frequently expressed, and was acted upon by her Ministers. 
Undoubtedly, though the Queen has successfully preserved 
the appearance of impartiality in conferring with the successive 
chiefs of her governments, she has had her favorite statesmen, 
just as she has had her favorite divines. 

It was, perhaps, the result of that peculiar state of mind 
which, more or less, became chronic with her after her husband's 
death, partly also of that tenderness with which, by the force of 
association, all things connected with Scotland inspired her, that 
she contracted such an admiration for Scotch Presbyterian and 
Free Kirk theology. 

NO FRIEND TO RELIGIOUS SHOWS. 

The clerical teachers for whom she has exhibited the most 
preference in England have belonged to that class of whom Dr. 
Stanley, the Dean of Westminster, may be taken as a type. Her 
Majesty liked the Broad Church clerg3nuen and the Low Church, 
but detested the High ; she was as severe a critic of the oratory of 
the pulpit as she v/as of the manner in v/hicli a regiment — for the 
Queen had a keen eye to military effect — performed its march 
past, or an army went through the intricate tactics of a field day. 

It is not to supposed that amid the changes and fluctuations 
of public sentiment and the varying opinions concerning great 
and important questions the Queen had no mind of her own and 
w^as governed by the demand of the hour. She held her own 
opinions firmly. 

These, however, were sentiments of which the nation, if 
aware at all, was never made inconveniently aware. Whatever 
her political predelictions, the machiner}' of government has gone 
on all the same, and the only measure on whose passing the 
Oueen is believed to have exercised au}?- influence was the Public 
Worship Regulation bill of 1874. It was rather the personal 



166 EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 

eccentricities wliicli displayed themselves continuous! 3^ or at inter- 
vals in lier after tlie death of lier husband that gave, not altogether 
unjustly to her subjects, some ground of grievance. 

The public were not able to fully understand the great afflic- 
tion from which she was suffering, nor could they fully enter into 
sympathy with her in her sore misfortune. She was the one most 
concerned in the lamented death of Prince Albert, and it was but 
natural that those who from the circumstances could not compre- 
hend her overwhelming sorrow should expect and demand of her 
the discharge of public duties which she felt herself unable to 
perform. It was her disposition to keep company with her own 
grief ; she revered the memory of her husband, and it was only 
natural that in the days of her mourning she should avoid as far 
as possible all public pageants, fetes and appearances on state 
occasions. 

She therefore withdrew to a large extent from performing 
those public duties which otherwise would have received her first 
attention. She avoided the glare of publicity and the gaze of the 
multitude. 

ATTENDING TO ROYAL DUTIES. 

These, however, were acts which, though ill-advised in them- 
selves, English posterity and the universal opinion of a civilized 
world will deal with as something more than venial in comparison 
with the outrageous behavior and the gross neglect of royal duties 
and royal conduct which had marked the predecessors of the 
Queen on the British throne. 

As it is, the reign of Queen Victoria will long be remembered 
by her subjects for the era of material prosperity, of scientific and 
literary activity, of enterprise, invention, and commerce, with 
which it is coincident. 

Victoria's place in the line of rulers most influential in the 
political development of Engl and stands without question. Wil- 
liam the Conqueror, Henry II., Edward I., Kenr}^ VIII., Eliza- 
beth, Cromwell — these are her peers. The " Maiden Queen," 
who possessed much of her father's masterfulness and warded off 



EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 167 

tlie '^Spanisli peril," was Victoria's nearest prototype, but the 
sovereign lady of tlie nineteenth century was equally beloved and 
venerated by her subjects, her range of sympathies was wider, 
her prescient instincts for her country's welfare no less than the 
same qualities of her predecessor in the sixteenth. Her grasp of 
the role she was destined to play on the British throne was quite 
as powerful as that of any previous sovereign. She made for her- 
self the character of a constitutional monarch. It is difficult to 
see how she can be surpassed in this one respect. 

The constitution to which Victoria succeeded was not a formal 
one. Numberless precedents, it is true, had been established. 
The English monarchy had broken from the leading strings of 
the great whig nobles who brought about and upheld the Hano- 
verian Guelphs from whom she was immediately descended. The 
long wars with France were just over before she was born. 
Reform of Parliament and the admission of the middle classes 
to the government of her country came just before her accession 
to the throne. 

FITTING HERSELF TO BE QUEEN. 

A new era had dawned. Carefully trained by her mother, 
with the fostering care of her politic uncle, the King of the Bel- 
gians, Victoria set herself, with a steadfastness of purpose few 
men have surpassed, to fit the monarchy to the new conditions. 
In her husband. Prince Albert, she found a willing helpmeet and 
strong support, but in the earliest years of her reign she had the 
inestimable advantage of the Nestorlike experience of Lord Mel- 
bourne, a statesman who, as her first Premier, took a paternal 
interest in his young mistress, and placed at her disposal all his 
unrivalled knowledge of men and afi'airs. 

The Queen's Prime Ministers were ten in number, as follows : 

Lord Melbourne 1837-1841 

Sir Robert Peel 1841-1846 

Lord John Russell (twice) 1846-1852, 1865 

Earl of Derby (three times) 1852, 1858, 1866-1868 

Earl of Aberdeen 1852-1855 



fgg EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 

Lord Palmerston (twice) 1855-1858, 1859-1865 

Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield (twice) 1865-1866, 1874-1880 

William Ewart Gladstone (four times) 

1868-1874, 1880-1885, 1886, 1892-1894 

Marquis of Salisbury (three times) 1885, 1886-1892, 1895-1901 

Earl of Rosebery 1894-1895 

Very wisely and skillfully did Her Majesty carry herself 
toward the Prime Ministers and other higli officials. There was 
never any suspicion of neglect on her part, never any occasion for • 
jealousy. Each was treated with all due respect and with the 
consideration which his exalted position was entitled to receive 
from the sovereign. 

Her journals, however, show that she fully recognized the 
commanding ability of the s'^tesmanwho subsequently carried 
the repeal of the Corn laws. Again, with Lord Palmerston, there 
were frequent collisions, as on his direction of foreign affairs she 
found it necessary to insist that he should submit his despatches 
to her consideration. 

MR. GLADSTONE'S POLICY. 

Mr. Gladstone's policy may have frequently diverged from 
the line which seemed consonant with the interests of the Crown. 
Queen Victoria, however, always accepted the verdict of the 
general elections, and her personal preferences were never allowed 
to intrude into the domain of her responsible duties. 

Mr. Disraeli made her Empress of India, and Lord Salisbury, 
Premier through eleven years of the last period of her reign, in 
the course of which two jubilee celebrations crowned the achieve- 
ments of the Victorian regime, stood toward her much in the 
position of Lord Burleigh to Elizabeth. Yet the public marks 
of her gratitude did not go beyond private visits to Huyhanden 
Manor and Hatfield House, and significant sentences in the 
otherwise strictly formal court circular. 

It was the custom of the leader of the House of Commons 
each night to dispatch an autograph account of the proceedings 
to the sovereign. These, if ever they see the light, must be of 



EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 



169 



great interest as showing the relations between the leaders of 
political parties and Queen Victoria. But, indeed, the Queen's 
private correspondence will disclose the inner history of the age, 
particularly at the courts of Europe, as can no other sources of 
information. She was posted on all royal affairs. 




ENGLISH TROOPS ON THE MARCH IN INDIA. 

Lady Jeune, writing of this aspect of the Queen's influence 
says : — 

" Royal alliances in these days do not convey or bring with 
them any real political significance or support, and they 
are valueless as allies in any question which does not immediately 
affect their own personal interests. 

"But it would be idle to say that the relationship and 



170 EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 

affection of a woman like tlie Queen did not have great influence 
and carry conviction to those who belonged to her, and who were 
able from personal observation and experience to profit by her 
knowledge of the world and great sagacity. She had outlived 
all her contemporaries, and spoke with the experience of a 
century. She was wise, kind and sensible, and exercised the , 
widest possible influence on all who came in contact with her. 
" The sentiment that attaches itself to every woman was 
strongly developed irr her, the pathetic figure of one who had 
outlived so many dynasties, lost so many loved ones, known 
intimately all the great and remarkable men of her day, whose 
memory carried her back into times that we have only read of, 
whose experience and knowledge were so immeasurably superior 
to those of any around her. 

TREATED WITH GREATEST RESPECT. 

" Her opinion could not fail to have weight in the councils of 
the world, and she was listened to and her advice adopted with 
the truest conviction and deepest respect. It is no secret that 
when Britain was roused to the greatest indignation by the tele- 
gram of sympathy sent by the German Emperor to Mr. Kruger, 
in December, 1896, it was the Queen's personal remonstrance that 
made him realize how great a mistake he had committed. In all 
matters that affected the interests of either Germany or Russia in 
connection with Britain the Queen's opinion was treated with the 
greatest respect and deference." 

In this unique position of family relationships and intimac}^ 
with state affairs. Queen Victoria's prudence, conscientiousness 
and family and national affections found full and harmonious 
play. The monarchy stood unshaken in the upheavals of 1848. 
Agitation arising from distress in the days of Chartism and the 
Irish famine subsided and left the throne untouched. 

Reform, Church disestablishment and the question of national 
union were questions which might have led to cleavage, but which 
were settled under her wise sway in orderly and progressive 
fashion in accordance with the popular will. As the fountain of 



EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 171 

honor and mercy, Victoria's fame is unsullied. Tlie close interest 
slie manifested in her Indian realm won the esteem of the hun- 
dreds of millions who came under her rule in the East, and round 
her head centred that loyal sentiment and sense of common interest 
which in her last years bound together more closely the scattered 
members of the empire under the constitutional forms of federa- 
tion. 

Some conception of the growth of the British Empire under 
Queen Victoria may be formed from the following table. In 
addition, it must be remembered that in 1837 ^^^ Indian territory 
even indirectly under British sway, included neither of the great 
frontier provinces of Burmah and the Punjaub. Their acquisi- 
tion followed the transfer of rule from the British East India 
Company to the Crown brought about by the mutiny. 

ONWARD MARCH OF CIVILIZATION. 

Racially and religiously India is more heterogeneous than 
Europe, yet despite that and pestilence and famine, railways, res- 
ervoirs, a system of j ustice and other vast improvements show 
the firm, civilizing hand of its own ruler. 

Attention has been centred on the British colonies as never 
before by reason of their active loyalty during the Transvaal war. 
Representative government was granted to all the important col- 
onies in 1856. Distress in the British Isles during the early 
years of the reign led to a wave of emigration to the lands across 
the seas. In the case of Australia, a new impetus was given by 
the discovery of gold. Canadian federation began in 1867, and 
the dawn of this year saw the union of Australia take effect. 

Besides territory actually acquired. Great Britain has 
assumed practical control of Egypt, while restoring the Soudan 
to Khedival rule, and there is no apparent prospect of her with- 
drawal from the Nile Valley. 



1839 — Aden annexed. 
1842 — Hong Kong acquired. 
1842 — Natal taken. 
1843 — Sindee annexed, 



1846 — Sikh territory ceded. 
1849 — Punjaub annexed. 
1852 — Pegu, Burmah, acquired. 
1856 — Oude annexed. 



172 



EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 



1858 — Crown assumed rule of India. 

1874 — Fiji Islands annexed. 

1875 — Sultan's share in Suez Canal 

bought. 
1 878^ Island of Cyprus occupied. 
1886 — Burmah annexed. 
1 890 — Zanzibar protectorate assumed. 



1896 — Ashantees compelled to accept 

British sovereignty. 
1896 — Kitchener occupied Dongola. 
1899 — Partition of Samoa. 
1900 — Transvaal and Orange Free 

State annexed. 



CHRONOLOGY OF VICTORIA'S REIGN. 



18 19 — Future Queen born, May 24. 

1837 — Accession to throne, June 20. 

1838 — Coronation, Westminster Ab- 
bey, June 28. Transatlantic steam 
navigation inaugurated. 

1839 — Madman arrested trying to 
enter Buckingham Palace. Anti- 
Corn Law League formed. 
British forces occupy Cabul. 
British took possession of Aden. 

1840 — Queen married to Prince Al- 
bert, February 10. Insane pot- 
boy tries to shoot King and 
Queen, June 10. Cheap postage 
introduced in England. Prin- 
cess Royal born, later Empress 
Frederick, November 21. Brit- 
ish and Austrian expedition to 
Syria. Mehemet Ali sues for 
peace. 

1841 — Sir Robert Peel succeeds Lord 
Melbourne as Premier. Prince of 
Wales born, November 9. Suc- 
cessful insurrection in Cabul. 
British take Canton and Amoy. 

1842 — John Francis tried to shoot 
Queen, May 30. John William 
Bean pointed pistol at Queen, 
July 3. British withdrew from 



Afghanistan. Hong Kong ceded 
to P^ngland. Chinese ports 
opened. British took Boer Re- 
public in Natal. 

1843 — Princess Alice Maud Mary 
born, April 25. Scinde an- 
nexed to British India. Queen 
and Prince Albert visit King 
and Queen of France. Prince 
Alfred born, August 6. Louis 
Philippe visits Queen. 

1845 — Seals of Colonial office given 
to Mr. Gladstone. England and 
France made war on dictator of 
Argentine Republic. Outbreak 
first Sikh war. 

1846 — Princess Helena born. May 
25. Anglo-American treaty 
settling Northwest boundary ot 
United States. Great famine in 
Ireland. Corn laws repealed. 
Sikhs defeated, ceded territory 
to East India Company. 

1847 — Queen headed Irish famine 
subscription. 

1848 — Princess Louise born, March 
18. Queen and Prince Albert 
visit fugitive French royal fam- 
ily at Claremont. Great Chartist 



EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 



1 iC, 



demonstration London. Insur- 
rection in Ireland attempted. 
Outbreak second Sikh war. 
Orange River sovereignty oc- 
cupied. Boers establish Trans- 
vaal Republic. 

1849 — Hamilton fired at Queen. 
Queen first visited Ireland. Sikhs 
defeated. Punjaub annexed to 
British India. 

1850 — Prince Arthur born, May i. 
Robert Pate attacked Queen 
with stick. Clayton-Bulwer treaty 
concluded. Taiping rebellion, 
China. 

1851 — Queen opened great Exposi- 
tion. Burmah provoked British 
hostilities. Gold found in Aus- 
tralia. 

1852 — First Derby Ministry suc- 
ceeded Russell administration. 
Aberdeen succeeded Derby. 
London protocol on succession 
in Denmark and Schleswig-Hol- 
stein. British victories in Bur- 
mah. Pegu acquired. 

1853 — Prince Leopold born, April 7. 
Royal family visited Ireland. 

1854 — Crimean War formally begun 
by declaration of England and 
France against Russia. 

1854 — British - Japanese treaty. 
British permitted Orange River 
Republic. Commander McClure 
accomplished northwest passage. 

1 8 5 5 — French Emperor and Empress 
visited Queen at Windsor and 
visit returned in Paris. Palmer- 
ston succeeded Aberdeen as 



Premier. Livingstone discovered 
Victoria Falls. 

1856 — Treaty of Paris ended Crimean 
War. Oude annexed to British 
India. Outbreak second war, 
England against China. Per- 
sians occupied Herat, involved in 
war with government of India, 
successfully ended by British 
next year. 

1857 — Outbreak of Indian mutiny, 
Canton occupied by British and 
French. Princess Beatrice born, 
April 14. 

1858 — Second Derby Ministry suc- 
ceeded Palmerston. Hebrev/ 
disability in Britain removed. 
Indian mutiny virtualh' sup- 
pressed and government trans- 
ferred from East India Company 
to Crown. Treaty with China. 
Queen congratulated American 
President over new transatlantic 
cable, August 22. 

1859— Queen's first grandchild, now 
Emperor William II., born, 
January 27. Palmerston suc- 
ceeded Derby as Premier, June. 
Difficulties with China. 

i860 — Invitation of President Bu- 
chanan for Prince of Wales to 
to visit America accepted by 
Queen. Anglo-French expedi- 
tion occupied Pekin. 

1 86 1 — Duchess of Kent, Queen's 
mother, died. Queen's third visit 
visit to Ireland. Prince Con- 



174 



EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 



sort died, December 14. Eng- 
land, France and Spain sent 
fleets to Mexico. 

1862 — United States granted British 
demand for release of Mason and 
Slidell. 

1 863 — Prince of Wales married, March 
10. France declared war on 
on Mexico ; England and 
Spain withdrew forces. Brit- 
ain renounced renunciation 
of protectorate over Ionian 
Islands. 

1 864 — Baker discovered Lake Albert 
Nyanza. 

1865 — Measures taken to suppress 
Fenians in Ireland. Palmers- 
ton died. Russell premier for 
second time. 

1866 — Queen thanked Mr. Geo. 
Peabody, American philanthro- 
pist, for gifts ;^ 1,750,000 to 
London poor. Fenians at- 
tempted invasion of Canada. 
Russell resigned. Third Der- 
by Ministry. Successful es- 
tablishment of telegraphy 
between Europe and Amer- 
ica. 

I Z6y — Fenian insurrection in Ireland. 
Dominion of Canada consti- 
tuted. Reform act passed. Out- 
break of Abyssinian war, ended 
next year. 

1868 — Disraeli succeeded Derby as 
premier. Reform act for Scot- 
land and Ireland. Gladstone 
succeeded Disraeli. 



1869. — Irish Church disestablished, 
to take effect 1871. Pacific 
Railway and Suez Canal com- 
pleted. 

1870 — Empress Eugenie visited the 
Queen. Irish Land act. Ele- 
mentary Education act for 
England and Wales. Baker 
led expedition up the Nile. 

1 87 1 — Former Emperor Louis Napo- 
leon visited Queen. Treaty of 
of Washington to settle the 
Alabama question. Stanley 
found Livingstone. Grave con- 
dition of Queen's health an- 
nounced, and Prince of Wales 
had typhoid fever. 

1 872 — Queen present at thanksgiving 
for Prince of Wales' recovery. 
America obtains the Ala- 
bama award. Ballot bill 
passed. 

1874 — Disraeli succeeded Gladstone 
as premier. Britain annexed 
Fiji Islands. Ashantee war 
ended. 

1875 — Britain bought Sultan's share 
in Suez Canal. 

1876 — Queen proclaimed Empress of 
India in London. Constantino- 
ple Conference opened ; closed 
next year. 

1877 — Queen received General Grant. 
British took Transvaal Repub- 
lic. 

1878 — Britain occupied Cyprus. 
Treaty of Berlin. War against 
Afghanistan. 



EPOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 



175 



i879-—War against Zulus. Queen's 
first great-grandchild born, 
Princess Charlotte of Saxe- 
Meiningen, May 12. Glad- 
stone succeeded Beaconsfield 
as Premier. Active Agrarian 
movement in Ireland. Roberts 
entered Kandahar. Transvaal 
uprising. 

1 88 1 — Queen telegraphed sympathy 
on President Garfield's death 
and court went into mourning. 
British defeated by Boers at 
Majuba Hill, autonomy granted. 
Irish Land bill passed. Par- 
nell imprisoned. Land League 
manifesto. British evacuated 
Kandahar. Mahdi revolt in 
Soudan. 

1882- — Roderic Maclean shot at 
Queen. Europeans massacred 
in Alexandria. War against 
Arabi Pacha, who was defeated. 
Parnell released. Lord Cav- 
endish murdered in Dublin. 
Irish National League formed. 

1883 — Queen injured by slipping on 
stairs. 

1884 — Gordon shut up in Khartoum. 
Franchise bill passed. 

1885 — Irish dynamite outrages in 
London. Mahdi captured Khar- 
toum, Gordon killed. British 
force withdrawn from Soudan. 
Death of Mahdi. British pre- 
pare to meet Russian advance 
on Herat ; settlement effected. 
Riel rebellion in Canada. Salis- 



bury succeeded Gladstone as 
Premier. Conquest of Burmah. 
Canadian Pacific Railway com- 
pleted. 

1886 — Queen opened Colonial and 
Indian Exhibition. Burmah an- 
nexed. Gladstone succeeded 
Salisbury, proposed home rule 
and was succeeded by Salis- 
bury. 

1887 — Queen's Jubilee celebrated. 
Queen sent Duke of Norfolk to 
congratulate the Pope on his 
ecclesiastical jubilee. 

J 888 — Queen present at celebration 
of Prince of Wales' silver wed- 
ding. Fisheries treaty with 
United States rejected by Senate. 
Osman Digna defeated near 
Suakim. 

1889 — British collision with Portugal 
in South-east Africa. Samoan 
conference with United States 
and Germany. 

1890 — Portugal yielded to British 
demands. Treaty with Ger- 
many defining spheres in Africa 
and ceding Heligoland to Ger- 
many. Protectorate of Zanzibar 
assumed. 

1 891 — Queen reviewed French fleet. 
Osman Digna completely 
defeated. 

1 892 — Duke of Clarence died. Agree- 
ment with United States to 
arbitrate Behring Sea seal fish- 
eries dispute. Gladstone suc- 
ceeded Salisbury as premier 



1?6 



ENOCHS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN. 



1893 — Queen opened Imperial Insti- 
tute. Home Rule bill intro- 
duced. Behring Sea arbitration 
award against America, British 
East Africa Company defeated 
King of Matabeleland. 

1894 — Queen formally inaugurated 
Manchester ship canal. Prince 
Edward of York born, June 23. 
Rosebery succeeded Gladstone 
as premier. 

1 895 — Salisburysucceeded Rosebery. 
President Cleveland sent mes- 
sage to Britain regarding Vene- 
zueland boundary dispute. 

1896 — Queen received Li Hung 
Chang. Queen on September 
23 had reigned longer than any 
former British sovereign. Britain 
granted American demand for 
Venezueland arbitration. James- 
town raid. Ashantees compelled 
to accept British sovereignty. 
Kitchener occupied Dongola. 

1897 — Queen's *' Diamond Jubilee" 



celebrated. Senate rejected 
Anglo-American general arbitra- 
tion treaty. Autonomy of Crete 
declared by Powers. Grand 
Duchess Titiana of Russia, 
Queen's thirtieth great-grand- 
child, born. Revolt of Indian 
hill tribes on Afghan frontier. 

1898 — Two-cent postage went into 
effect between Britain and 
colonies. 

1899 — Dervish force surrendered. 
Venezuelan arbitration award 
a compromise. Transvaal de- 
clared war October 1 1 ; colonies 
rallied to support Britain. Agree- 
ment with America and Ger- 
many for partition of Samoa. 

1900 — Queen welcomed in Ireland. 
International expeditions occu- 
pied Pekin. Punitive expedition 
against Ashantees. Australian 
colonies formed Commonwealth 
of Australia. Transvaal and 
Orange Free State annexed. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Wonderful Achievements During the Reign of Victoria. 

THE Victorian era will be celebrated in song and story throngh 
coming ages as the greatest period of progress that Britian 
has ever known. It is tlie golden age of England. 

It has witnessed the greatest achievements in invention, the 
greatest advancement in science and the arts, and the most 
remarkable evolution in the relations of capital and labor that the 
world has ever seen. 

No equal period of the world's history, from the time that 
civilization M^as rocked in the cradle of the race on the shores of 
the Euphrates down to the death scene in the chamber at Osborne, 
has seen such unparalleled growth of a people, such unexampled 
expansion of territory as that witnessed during the Victorian era. 

At the beginning of Victoria's reign the total population of 
the Empire was about 127,000,000 ; to-day it is 384,000,000, one- 
fifth that of the whole world. In area it embraces 11,334,000 
square miles, a territory three times the size of Europe, and 
one-fifth the land area of the globe. 

The population of the United Kingdom itself has grown from 
16,000,000 to 40,000,000, notwithstanding that more emigrants 
have gone out from the British Isles than from all the rest of 
Europe put together. 

The trade, commerce and industry of the British Isles have 
kept pace with this advancement. Her ships sail every sea. Her 
flag is known in every port of the civilized world. Since the 
ascension of Victoria the foreign trade of Great Britain has 
increased 420 per cent. 

In 1837 the British possessions in India and the far East 
were but a trifle as compared with to-day. Within two decades 
after her succession to the crown the territories of Scinde, Tan- 
iore, Delhi, Burma, Nagpur, Sattara, Jhansi, the Sikhs and Oude 

12 177 



178 ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. 

were brought under British dominion. In 1857 all of British 
India was transferred from the British Bast India Company to the 
crown. Since that time Upper Burma, the Shan States, Beloo- 
chistan, Manipur and Chitral have been annexed. 

The sway of Victoria's scepter has been extended over the 
islands of the sea, and New Zealand, Victoria, South Australia, 
Queensland and West Australia have been added to the galaxy of 
British colonies. The opium war in China and the Taiping 
rebellion gave England her foothold in Hong Kong, while Fiji, 
part of Borneo and New Guinea and many smaller island groups 
have since been colored with British red on the map of the world. 

In the Western Hemisphere British title in the northwest 
territory has been confirmed and the area of British Guiana by 
the treaty of arbitration with Venezuela has been greatly 
enlarged. The development of Canada has fallen but little short 
of the discovery and annexation of a new continent. 

LIGHT IN THE DARK CONTINENT. 

The Dark Continent, on the map of the world, is marked 
with the outposts of British arms. Sixty years ago Great Britain 
owned Cape Colony and two or three other mere footholds. The 
Boer war, whose sanguinary course still marks a trail of blood 
across the Dark Continent, and whose excitement and the reverses 
of British arms had much to do with hastening the end of the 
Queen Empress, has strengthened British sovereignity in that 
far off land. 

In sixty years she has acquired Natal, Basutoland, Bechu- 
analand, Zululand and the vast territory of the British South 
African Company, extending north to Lake Tanganyika. In 
East Africa she has practically taken Zanzibar and nearly half a 
million square miles of "hinterland," extending to the Congo 
State and northward to the Egyptian Soudan. In the west she has 
an imperial domain in the Niger country, and in the north a tem- 
porary control over Egypt, the end of which no man can yet 
discern. 

In that day 80,000,000 letters were regarded as an incredible 



ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE REiGN OF VICTORIA. 179 

number for the Post Office Department to handle in a year, Bnt 
Sir Roland Hill modernizing the process of postal service, has 
made it possible for 2,000,000,000 pieces of first class matter to 
pass through the office annually. 

The electric telegraph was in embryo when the crown was 
placed on Victoria's brow. It was not until thirty years later that 
Europe and America were united by a submarine cable, while the 
idea of a telephone and the discovery of the X-rays were 
undreamed of in the mind of scientist or inventor. 

In a thousand details the necessities of the present were lux- 
uries when Victoria ascended the throne. A thousand others, 
which now are held mere matters of course, were not then so 
much as imagined. Eighteen hundred and thirty-seven was the 
day of the candle, not the electric light, the day of flint and steel, 
not smokeless powder. 

WAR CLOUDS DIM THE SPLENDOR. 

England's wars hang over this bright era like a cloud. The 
Crimean war of 1853 and 1855, the Indian mutiny of 1857, which 
ran a frightful course of bloodshed and rapine for seventeen 
months, the far Eastern imbroglios, the Egyptian difficulties, the 
Soudanese campaign and the South African war have sounded an 
almost unending clash of arms in the ears of the world. But 
despite the shadows of this splendid reign, the world still stands 
too near even to its early chapters to judge it justly and accur- 
ately. The wonderful strides in the domain of industry, science, 
art, letters and discovery are yet too near to merit the fullest 
appreciation by this generation. 

When Victoria was crowned Queen the first locomotive had 
but just appeared, and twelve miles an hour was held to be a 
dangerous rate of speed. To-day England's 2 1,000 miles of track 
pay annual dividends of more than $415,000,000. In the year of 
her ascension, the first steamship was built. Then the journey 
to India round the Cape occupied from five to seven months, 
where to-day the journey is made in less than one-fifth that time. 

No greater advance has been made in any quarter than in 



180 ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. 

the aiuelioriation of the condition of the day laborer. He worked 
long honrs for a pay so slight as to be scarcely nominal. He 
had no holidays save Sundays, and in some cases not even that. 
The world knows what the British workingman is to-day— a 
power in the state — compelling the respect which he deserves. 
Sir Walter Besant tells us of the state of the professions in the 
early forties; present day comment is unnecessary. 

The old order changed — and changing — has given to the 
world a group of English names that to-day are household words. 
While such men as Melbourne, Peel, Russell, Palmerston, 
Beaconsfield, Gladstone and Salisbury were directing her coun- 
cils ; while Sir Charles Napier, Havelock, Colin Campbell, 
Roberts, Gordon, and Garnet AVolseley were leading her armies ; 
while Sir Samuel Baker, Livingstone and Stanley were doing in 
A^frica what Sir John Franklin had done in the far North, and 
Barton and Layard in the far East, what was England not doing 
^,vithin her own borders ! 

NEW ERA IN RELIGIOUS LIFE. 

Uiider the guidance of such minds as Robertson, Martineau, 
Pusey^ Wilberforce and Newman, Englishmen no longer were 
forced to suck the dry bones of theology. What Cobden, Sydney 
Smith, Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer wrote was promptly put 
into practice by men like Brougham and sturdy old John Bright. 
Besemer made a new thing of the manufacture of steel ; Faraday, 
Sir John Herschel, Cavendish, Tyndall, Huxle}-, Davy and Dar- 
win — what did these men not do for science ? 

If for no other cause, the age of Victoria would be ever 
memorable in the history of the world's development for three 
primal facts discovered by these great thinkers : the molecular 
constitution of matter, evolution, and the conservation of energy. 

In the field of art the period opens with the names of Turner 
and Landseer and closes with those of Poynter and Alma- 
Tadema. Between these extremes come Holman Hunt and 
Millais, Watts and Burne-Jones, Constable and Cole, Madox- 
Brown, Maclise and Orchardson, while the artists working 







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182 ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. 

til rough the iiiediuin of bhick and white have iDcen led by Iveech 
and Cruikshank, Tenniel, Keene and Du Maurier. 

In literature the names that press forward for mention are 
even more numerous. Never has any other period held so many 
historians — Carlyle, Macaulay, Grote, McCarthy, Green, Froude, 
Freeman, Kinglake, Milman, Hallam, Lecky and Bryer. In the 
realm of poetry, Southey and Campbell, Moore, Hood and Words- 
worth had already done their best. Rossetti and Swinburne, Kip- 
ling and Stephen Phillips were to take up the melodies the}^ had 
dropped. 

De Quincey, Landor and Matthew Arnold wrote all things 
well, nor has there ever lived for the world's pleasure a group of 
novelists more brilliant than that which may be broadly termed 
Victorian ; Thackeray, Dickens and Bulwer, Trollope, Charles 
Reade, the Brontes and George Eliot, Collins, Kingsley and 
Blackmore, Stevenson, Thomas Hardy and Kipling. 

GREAT PROGRESS OF BRITAIN. 

To one of any acquaintance whatever with the world of events 
and books, even so brief a summary, so bare a catalogue, as this 
tells a vast deal of the progress of the Knglish people during the 
reign of Victoria. The complete story remains yet to be told, 
nor is there any danger that its narrator will wax too enthusiastic, 
or too highly laud its rapid onward march of progress. 

Among the many wonderful events which have occurred since 
Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837 ^^^ which have 
changed the face of civilization, the following stand out as 
particularly important : 

Discovery of photography in 1839. 

Enunciation of the Monroe Doctrine. 

Civil war in the United States, 1861-65. 

Emancipation of slaves under white men throughout the world. 

Liberation of 40,000,000 Russian serfs by Alexander II. 

Formation of the German Empire by Count von Bismarck. 

Crushing of Spain's colonial power by the United States. 

Establishment of present French Republic. 



ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. 183 

Wooden sailing vessels superseded by iron steam vessels 
through the genius of Ericsson, inventor of the monitor. 
Japan comes to the front as a world power. 
Laying of the Atlantic Cable. 
Building of the Suez Canal. 
Mount Cenis and St. Gothard tunnels built. 
Discovery of gold in California, 1849. 
The modern railroad evolved. 
Discovery of anesthetics, in 1844. 
Science of bacteriology, or germ theory. 
Darwin's theory of evolution. 
Discovery of the planet Neptune. 
Roentgen's discovery of the X-ray. 
Discovery of the Northwest Passage. 
Australia opened up to civilization. 

EXPLORATION OF AFRICA. 

Africa opened up by the discoveries of Burton, Speke, 
Livingstone and Stanley. 

Pasteur's discovery of a treatment for hydrophobia, 1844. 

Peace Conference at The Hague, 1899. 

Geneva Convention, 1864, establishing the Red Cross 
Society. 

Death of "Chinese" Gordon. 

General Lord Kitchener conquered the rebel Arabs and 
established England's sovereignty in Egypt. 

Chinese-Japanese war. 

England's war with Afghanistan, 1840. 

Victoria proclaimed Empress of India, November i, 1858. 

Indian mutiny put down by General Roberts in 1859. 

1880, first year of peace in Queen Victoria's reign. 

Zulu war, in 1879. 
Transvaal war, 1881. 

Graeco-Turkish war, 1897. 

War in South Africa, 1900-01. 

Russo-Turkish war, 1853-55. 



18 t ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. 

PVanco-Prussian war, 1870. 

Telegraphy discovered by Samuel F. B. Morse. 

Invention of typewriters revolutionized business metbods. 

Robert Hoe invents tbe power printing press. 

Kdison invents tbe electric light and pbonogra^pb. 

Alexander Graham Bell invents tbe telepbonn. 

Invention of tbe sewing machine. 

Automobiles revolutionize tbe transportation world. 

Invention of wireless telegraphy. 

Submarine vessels made practical. 

Invention of smokeless powder. 

Discovery of petroleum. 

Evolution of tbe modern railroad with its attendant comforts. 

Use of armor plate for war vessels. 

Establishment of life saving service. 

Introduction of tbe postage stamp. 

Invention of tbe suspension and cantilever bridge. 

Science of evolutiou discovered by Darwin. 

NO OTHER REIGN SO LONG. 

Victoria's was tbe longest reign in English history, tbe 
longest actual reign in European history in fact. She was eigh- 
teen years of age when she ascended tbe throne of Great Britain, 
she was in full possession of her faculties up to tbe time of ber 
death, and was thus in truth the ruler of ber country for a longer 
period than ber grandfather, George III., whose sixty year reign 
was interrupted by insanity, or than Louis XIV., who was a boy 
of five wben tbe seventy-two years counted in his reign began. 

From tbe day wben, as a young girl, she took tbe coronation 
oatb in Westminster Abbey to that on which at Osborne, but two 
weeks ago, she conferred in person on Lord Roberts an earldom 
and the Garter, she has been, in fact, as well as by right tbe sov- 
ereign bead of tbe British Empire, within tbe limitations of the 
Britisb Constitution. In English history surely, in European 
bistory probably, tbe nineteenth century will be known as tbe 
Victorian age, like tbe age of Charlemagne. 



ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. 185 

Tliroughout this reign, witli the brief interval of the Crimean 

War, the pax Britannica has continued ; in Europe, that is to say, 

for outside hardly a year has passed without its little war. But 

insurrections in Africa, suppressions of the New Zealand Maoris, 

punitive expeditions into Ashanti and Burmah and Afghanistan 

and Abyssinia and even the re -establishment of order in China 

and in Hgypt, could hardly be expected to disturb the peace of 

Europe. 

BLOODY SEPOY MUTINY. 

There have been anxious moments, too, as when the Sepoy 
mutiny imperilled the possession of India for a while, or, as at 
this time, when the whole military power of England has been 
drawn upon to punish the Dutch republics of South Africa ; a war, 
which, according to the prevailing report, was carried on against 
the aged Queen's wishes and saddened her last days. In return 
for these England has her profitable gains of territory to show ; 
South Africa to the north of the Zambesi, Nigeria, East Africa, 
Nyassaland, Egypt and the Soudan to Uganda in the Dark Con- 
tinent, the nearly unbroken line from the Cape to Cairo ; the 
extended boundaries of India, Beluchistan, Burmah and other East 
Indian territories in Asia ; New Guinea and countless islands of 
the Pacific, with Australia grown into a strong commonwealth. 
Gains not in land alone, but in the increase of the sturdy English 
stock. 

Far greater, however, were the material changes that came 
about since Queen Victoria saw in the glass 'the face that still is 
stamped up6n her coins. She lived to see the bulwarks of Eng- 
land changed from the great wooden three-deckers, with their 
spread of sail and their muzzle-loading guns that did their duty at 
Trafalgar, to steel-armored cases of machinery hurling projectiles 
to a distance of a dozen miles, and destroyers hastening at thirty 
knots an hour to discharge their torpedoes under water. 

She lived to see an England mainly agriculutural turned 
into a hive of mechanical industries and gridironed with rail- 
roads. She opened the first international exhibition, she sent 
the first cable message across the Atlantic— but the record of her 




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ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE REIGN OF VICTORIA. 187 

reign is really the record of two-tliirds of the ceutury, a record 
of progress in arts, in sciences, in material improvements, in 
commerce, in wealth. The population of Great Britain has 
increased from 18,000,000 to 33,000,000, while Ireland, the black 
blot on the reign, has fallen from over eight million inhabitants 
to four millions and a half The great Colonies, too, have been 
brought closer, and the ideal of a Greater Britain, including 
even India, has acquired a misty outline. 

A prosperous reign, surely, and a golden age for England, 
and to'it the gentle, kindly lady who is now dead in the ripeness 
of years contributed what la}^ in her power. Yet can it be said 
that England at the end of the reign holds the place in the 
councils of the world that she did at the beginning? Would a 
message of Lord Salisbury be heeded in Europe now as those of 
Lord Palmerston were once ? One among equals she is now, 
where once she could direct. 

SINCERE MOURNING OF THE NATION. 

All England mourns sincerely for Queen Victoria, for at the 
moment of her accession she was born again in the hearts of her 
British subjects and never lost her hold upon their affections, 
nay, she unceasingly made it stronger and deeper. No one Mdio 
has not inherited it can know the feeling cherished for the person 
of a sovereign ; and that Victoria enjoyed to a degree not equalled 
by any monarch of her time. As the power of the crown 
declined her personal qualities as a woman grew steadily more 
magnified and loved. For years the faithfulness of the wife and 
mother who sat on the throne inspired with constantly increasing 
emphasis the speech of every Englishman who responded to " The 
Queen." She came to be the ideal matron of a passionately 
home-loving people, and as such she broadened and inflamed the 
innate reverence for the nation's ruler. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Traits and Anecdotes of the Queen. 

T N LIVES like that of Queen Victoria tlie character may be 
* frequently studied as well, if not better, by anecdotes than 
by elaborate narrative. While the principal trait in the Queen's 
character was domesticity, yet her position in life was such as to 
render conspicuous what in ordinary lives would have been but 
commonplace. 

Until advancing age rendered prolonged periods of rest an 
imperative necessity the Queen was probably a harder worker 
than any one individual in the royal service. Lord Palmerston 
has put it on record that during 1848 no fewer than 28,000 dis- 
patches were submitted and acted upon by her. 

When Lord Melbourne apologized for the close application 
rendered necessary by so large a number of wearisome docu- 
ments, she replied : 

" My lord, it is but a change of occupation. I have not lived 
a life of leisure, and, as 3^ou know, it is not long since I left off 
my daily lessons." 

Of course, so much work required great punctuality, and the 
Queen always practiced this politeness of kings. On tM^o occa- 
sions one of the ladies of the court kept her waiting. When a 
delay occurred the third time, the lady in question found her 
royal mistress, watch in hand. Blushing at this silent reproof, 
the attendant said she feared she had detained her majesty. 

"Yes, for quite ten minutes," was the grave reply, which so 
abashed the offender that she trembled violently. "We shall all 
in time be more perfect at our duties," was the kind remark of 
the Queen when she saw the confusion of her attendant. 

On one occasion, when the Archdeacon of London was cate- 
chising the young princes, he said : " Your governess deserves 
great credit for instructing you so thoroughly," at which the 

188 



TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 189 

youngsters piped out: "Oh, but it's mamma teaches us our 
catechism." 

An interesting evidence of the strong affection that existed 
between Queen Victoria and her Prince Consort, is found in the 
Queen's boudoir at Windsor Castle, which remained up to her 
death in the same state as when Prince Albert died. 

" Every article in this room my lamented husband selected 
for me in the twenty-fourth year of my reign," was the inscription 
on the door. 

The Queen was frequently informed as to each of her young 
descendants' mental and physical progress, and she was also fre- 
quently consulted as to the little oues' well being. With but 
few exceptions, to each of the great-grandchildren was given, in 
addition to their other names, that of Victor or Victoria, and at 
least a portion of each child's christening costume was always 
given by the British great-grandmother. 

FAVORITE PRIME MINISTER. 

The Queen never forgot a birthday, and scarcely a day 
passed but she gave some proof of the affectionate remembrance 
in which she held the youngest of her descendants. 

It is said that of all the prime ministers who held ofSce 
during the Queen's reign none was more of a favorite at court 
than Beaconsfield (Disraeli), and that, on the other hand, none 
was really less liked by the Queen than Gladstone. This is 
easily accounted for. Beaconsfield recognized fully Napoleon 
III.'s saying that "ladies must be humored," and he pleased the 
Queen by obeying all her reasonable requests. 

Beaconsfield "managed" the queen in one way by agreeing 
to call her " Empress of India." Hence the Queen permitted him 
a freedom of address never endured from any other of her 
ministers, except Lord Palmerston. Gladstone could never forget 
himself or fail to hint, if he did not clearly show it, that he had a 
mind of his own. He always was masterful in his way, and never 
hesitated on occasion to suggest to the Queen that his way was the 
best — often the only way — to proceed. 



190 TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 

There probably never was sucli an outpouring of people as on 
the occasion of the Queen's diamond j ubilee, the sixtieth anniver- 
sary of her accession to the throne, celebrated in London from 
June 20-22, 1897. Of course, London's 6,000,000 of people 
furnished the bulk of the gathering, but it is estimated that at 
least 2,000,000 visitors came from other parts of Britain and from 
abroad. 

Fabulous prices were paid for houses and window privileges 
along the route of the great procession to and from St. Paul's. 
Not less than $10,000 was paid for one house in Piccadilly, and 
$250 for a window capable of accommodating five people. 

The commemoration commenced on Sunday, June 20, 1897, 
when religious services were held in every church the world over 
where the British flag flies. Monday, June 21st, was what was 
known as accession day, but at the Queen's suggestion the many 
celebrations were deferred until the following day when her sixty 
years' reign was actually completed. There were special per- 
formances at the theatres all during jubilee week, and in the 
evenings the city was magnificently illuminated. 

LOOKING OUT FOR THE CHILDREN. 

The chief attraction, of course, was the great procession 
from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral in the morning 
of Tuesday, and its return in the afternoon. It was character- 
istic of the Queen that she ordered special preparations to pro- 
vide children with a good view of the procession. One of the 
prettiest episodes of the day was the presentation by the children 
of England of a gift to the Queen. [The royal carriage was 
drawn by twelve cream-colored horses. By her side was the 
Princess of Wales, and for her escort she had the princes of all 
the reigning houses of Europe. 

Victoria could truly claim the title of " Mother of Kings." 
A reigning czar, emperor and grand duke are among the surviv- 
ing grandsons and grandsons-in-law, her daughter is an empress, 
while other descendants will in due time wear the crowns . of 
Greece and Roumania. 



TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 191 

Altogether, from the union of Victoria with Albert in 1840, 
have sprung nine children, forty grandchildren and thirty-one 
great-grandchildren. Death has removed ten of these — two sons 
and a daughter, a granddaughter and six grandsons — so that the 
Queen's surviving family has sevent}^ members. Marriage has 
also brought the Queen nine daughters and sons-in-law — three of 
the latter having passed away — while all the fourteen grandsons 
and granddaughters-in-law survive. 

She who can make history for the world no more forever, will 
be kept with us in a succession of little classics inspired by love 
and reverence. Even her name will have always the flavor of 
goodness. 

CONTEST OVER HER NAME. 

Apropos of the name, the Duke of Kent, fourth son of 
George III., was determined to call her Elizabeth, believing in 
the traditional power of the name, should she be called to the 
throne. But her godfather, the Emperor of Russia, insisted as 
strenuously that the child should be named Alexandrina, and to 
this her mother's name, Victoria, was added. For a few years she 
was known as the little princess 'Drina, but before she reached 
the high estate of the crown her diminutives were Vicky and Vic 
and she was crowned Victoria I. 

A narrow escape from, the accepted and almost sanctioned 
name of Georgiana, after her grandfather, then the reigning king 
George III., is recorded with delight by English historians of the 
time, who were well pleased when the little princess was chris- 
tened Victoria Alexandria, and called Victoria, " gratia dei " (by 
the grace of god). It has been remarked that the beauty of 
character, simplicity and goodness of the Queen began in that 
^hour when she was formally consecrated with only two Christian 
names, a custom uncommon to royalty. 

Like the King of Israel, she inaugurated her reign by a 
prayer. When the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord 
Chamberlain carried the news of the King's death to Kensington 
Palace, they were told that the young Queen was asleep, and 
could not be disturbed. 



192 TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 

"We come on important business of state, and tlie Queen 
must be aroused even from sweet sleep for tbat," said the arcb- 
bisbop. 

Tbe news being conveyed to ber uncrowned majesty, sbe 
tben gave a lesson to all women forever not to keep men of busi- 
ness waiting. Sbe came into tbe distinguisbed presence of tbe 
arcbbisbop and tbe lord cbamberlain, in a loose flowing robe, ber 
bare feet tbrust into bedroom slippers, ber bair — denuded of tbe 
ever-worn nigbtcap — loosely coiled. Her large sympathetic ej^-es 
were full of tears, but tbe prelate wbo announced tbe news was 
astonished at ber womanly dignity. His Queen, she knelt at bis 
feet to say : 

" I ask your pravers in my behalf." 

TEARS AT HER CORONATION. 

At her coronation sbe wept when sbe heard tbe shouts of joy 
from ber people. Miss Barrett — afterv/ard Mrs. Browning — 
accentuated this tender scene in verse : 

God bless the weeping queen 

With blessings more divine, 
And fill with better love than earth's 

That tender heart of thine. 

That when the throne of earth shall be 

As low as graves brought down, 
A pierced hand may give to thee 
The crown which angels shout to see. 

Thou wilt not weep 
To wear that heavenly crown. 

Again the Queen was moved to tears in public when she was. 
called upon to sign the first death warrant — that of a man who' 
had been condemned to death on a judgment by court-martial. 
Tbe paper for the Queen's signature was presented to ber by tbe 
Duke of Wellington. 

" Is there nothing to be said in tbe favor of this man? " asked 
Victoria, trying vainly to restrain ber emotion. 



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QUEEN ALEXANDRA OF GREAT BRITAIN 




NICHOLAS II, CZAR OF RUSSIA, AND CZARINA WHO WAS 
PRINCESS ALICE OF HESSE, GRANDDAUGHTER 
. OF QUEEN VICTORIA 




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HON. WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE 




PRINCE EDWARD THE FUTURE KING, PRINCE ALBERT, AND 
PRINCESS VICTORIA, CHILDREN OF THE DUKE OF YORK 




THE VISIT OF THE GERMAN EMPEROR: RECEPTION OF HIS IMPERIAL 
MAJESTY BY THE PRINCE OF WALES AT WINDSOR 




DUCHESS OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA, WIDOW OF VICTORIA'S 
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LORD ROSEBERY-MR. GLADSTONE'S SUCCESSOR AS PREMIER 



TRAITS AMD ANECDOTES OF THE OtIEEN. 193 

" He is a deserter for the fourth time," answered the 'Iron 
Duke' sternl}^ 

"Oh, your grace, try to recall some virtue he may possess !" 

The duke hesitated, looked at the Queen, and seeing her tears 
said reluctantly : 

" He is not a brave soldier, your majesty, but is said to be a 
good man." 

" Oh, thank you, thank you," answered the Queen, smiling 
through her tears, "we cannot spare a good man from the world," 
and she wrote "pardoned" across the warrant, to the surprise and 
chagrin of Wellington. 

HARMLESS SUPERSTITIONS. 

Victoria had her pet superstitions in spite of royalty and 
education. Balmoral, the Queen's estate in the Highlands of 
Scotland, was first taken possession of by the English Court in 
September, 1855. As the royal family rode into the grounds 
they were welcomed by the national anthem, and on entering the 
castle a shoe was thrown after them for luck. Prince Albert 
turned and asked quickly : " Who did that ? " A soft voice 
whispered in his ear : " By order of the Queen for good luck." 
When her daughter Victoria was engaged to Prince Frederick 
William of Prussia the Queen wrote in her diary : 

" During our ride up Craig-na-ban this afternoon Prince 
Frederick picked up a piece of white heather, the emblem of good 
luck, which he gave to Vicky." 

The steadfastness of the Queen's character as a wife and 
woman has been exemplified in her known devotion to the 
memory of her husband. Prince Albert, the '' blameless prince " 
as he was called. He died of a fever nearly forty years before 
she died, but in his family his honored name has been ever 
present, his virtues a daily theme. 

The Victorian era is ended, and with the Gladstone century 

will mark the brightest epochs in the history of the world. That 

civilization and enlightenment that began with the Elizabethan 

era has had a grand fruition in this age, and of the two famous 
;3 



194 



TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 



female sovereigns of Great Britain Victoria will have tlie foremost 
place as the builder of tlie greatest of empires, as a ruler of 
marked wisdom, and as a woman of admirable gentleness and 
purity. 

Victoria was the thirty- seventh monarch of Great Britain 
from William the Conqueror. She was a niece of William IV., 
who was the brother of George IV., who was the son of George ILL, 
who was the grandson of George II., who was the son of George 

I., who was the cousin of Anne, who 
Avas the sister-in-law of William II., 
who was the son-in-law of James II., 
who was the son of Charles I., who 
was the son of James I., who was the 
cousin of Elizabeth, who was the 
sister of Mary. 

Mary was the sister of Edward 
VI., who was the son of Henry VIII., 
who was the son Henry VII., who 
was the cousin of Richard III., who 
was the uncle of Edward IV., who 
was the cousin of Henry VI., who 
Avas the son of Henry IV., who was 
the cousin of Richard II., who was 
the grandson of Edward III., who 
II., who was the son of Edward I., 
who was the son of Henry III., who was the son of John, 
who was the brother of Richard L, who was the son of 
Henry II., who was the cousin of Stephen, who Avas the cousin 
of Henry I., who was the brother of William Rufus, who was the 
son of William the Conqiteror 800 years ago. 

The exact origin of the family of the house of Guelph, to 
which Queen Victoria belonged, is somewhat obscure. Some 
persons have indeed asserted that Queen Victoria descends 
directly from the deified hero, Woden, whom the Scandinavians 
adored as a god. The true founder of the house of Hanover was 
Azon d'Este, Marquis of Tuscany, an Italian adventurer, who, 




KING WILLIAM IV. 

was the son of Edward 



TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 195 

at the commencement of the eleventh century, took service under 
the Emperor Conrad, in the hope of acquiring fortune in Germany 
by conquest or marriage. 

His matrimonial speculation proved the most profitable. He 
espoused Cunegunda of Guelph, a wealthy heiress, and discarded 
the name of D'Este for that of his wife. Henceforth he was 
called Guelph. Their son, Robert the Robust, contracted a still 
more fortunate alliance in marrying the Avidow of Tostic, Earl of 
Kent, brother to Edward the Confessor. The newly wedded pair 
found great favor with the Emperor, Henry the Fourth, who 
despoiled Otho of Saxony of his Bavarian'possessions in order to 
enrich them. The great-grandson of Robert rebelling against 
the Emperor Barbarossa, his estates were confiscated. 

A LUCKY MARRIAGE. 

A third time, however, the race of Azon retrieved the for- 
tunes of the family by a lucky marriage, the bride being a 
daughter of Henry the Second, King of England, who prevailed 
upon the German Caesar to bestow the countships of Brunswick, 
and Lunenburg upon his son-in-law. Otho the Fourteenth raised 
them to the rank of Duchies in the thirteenth century, and 
William or Guelph took the title of Duke. Of the ducal repre 
sentatives of the house, some were distinguished for their courage 
and military talents, others for their less noble qualities ; as 
Henry, surnamed the "Dog," for his snarling temper; Magnus the 
''insolent, " Ernest the " cruel." 

Otho the Fourteenth was the first of a long line of petty 
princes who departed from the matrimonial policy of his family 
by a marriage of inclination with Matilda de Campan, a simple 
gentlewoman of Brunswick and his own subject. The great- 
grandfather of George the First, King of England, had seven sons 
all Dukes, and entitled to a share of his possessions. To avoid 
splitting the family coronet by a permanent division of their 
father's states the brothers on his death entered into a most extra- 
ordinary compact. Only lone of the number was to contract a 
legal marriage. Lots were cast ; chance favored George, the sixth 



196 TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 

vSon, wlio espoused Anne Eleanor, a Princess of Hesse 
Darmstadt. 

THeir eldest son, Ernest Augustus, wlio for many years bore 
no Hglier title tlian Prince Bishop of Osnaberg, married Sophia, 
daughter of the unfortunate Queen of Bohemia, and grand- 
daughter of James the First ; which alliance first opened to the 
house of Hanover a prospect of the crown of Great Britain. 

The bride was sister to iRupert, so well known in English 
history for his devotion to Charles the First, to say nothing of 
his discoveries in science and art and engraving in mezzotint. 

It is a curious circumstance that neither the birth, baptism 
nor confirmation of Queen Victoria is recorded in the ojSicial pub- 
lic documents. The State archives are silent upon the advent 
into the world of the child Alexandrina Victoria, who was to rule 
over dominions vaster, and to command the allegiance of a larger 
number of subjects and a greater diversity of races than ever 
acknowledged the rule of a single sovereign. 

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE ROYAL BIRTH. 

But though the public records are silent, there is no doubt 
that Queen Victoria's birthday falls upon the 24th day of May. 
The event happened at sunrise in Kensington Palace, and the 
news was announced to the public in the following notice : 

"This morning at a quarter past 4 o'clock the Duchess of 
Kent was happily delivered of a princess, H. R. H. the Duke of 
Sussex, his grace, the Archbishop of Canterbury, his grace, the 
Duke of Wellington (master general of the ordinance) ; the Mar- 
quis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Bathurst, the Bishop of London, 
the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Rt. Hon. George Can- 
ning were in attendance. H. R. Highness is — God be praised — as 
well as can be expected and the young princess is in perfect 
health." 

Decidedly interesting is the story of the childhood of the 
little princess. There is no doubt that first among the influences 
that made Queen Victoria what she was, was the constant care of 
her mother, who was a woman of sound judgment and good 



TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 197 

sense. SHe was brought up with, absolute simplicity. We know 
about the bread and milk which constituted the breakfast par- 
taken of by the little Victoria at a small table placed beside her 
mother. She was taught to meet strangers with a friendly regard 
which won many a heart as the little lady gave childish greeting 
to those she met in her daily walks and drives. " I have never 
ceased to press on my daughter her duties, so as to gain by her 
conduct the respect and affection of the people," writes the 
Duchess of Kent. " This I have taught her should be her first 
earthly duty as a constitutional sovereign." 

Although the Princess Alexandrina Victoria was not the next 
in succession to the throne, her father seemed with prophetic 
instinct to designate her as the future Queen. " Take care of 
her," he would say, " for she will be Queen of England." 

SHE ^A^AS PUBLICLY PROCLAIMED. 

At ID o'clock on the morning after her accession, the Queen 
accompanied by her mother, and attended by a train of coaches 
carrying her lords and ladies, and escorted by cavalry, drove to 
St. James's Palace to be publicly proclaimed. While the procla- 
mation was being read the "little Queen" stood at the window of 
the Presence Chamber, in view of the people, a somewhat pathetic 
figure. She was dressed in deep mourning with white cuffs, a 
white tippet, and a border of white crape, under what the " Court 
Chronicle " calls a "small " black bonnet, small for the period of 
enormous head gear, we may add, which was placed far back on 
her head, showing her light hair, simply parted over her forehead. 

She was looking very pale, but retained her composure while 
the routine of the ceremony was proceeding. When, however, the 
cannon began to thunder, the trumpets sounded, the band struck 
up the national anthem, land the plaudits of the people crying : 
"God Save the Queen " rent the air, she wept. 

Thus was her reign inaugurated. 

Princess Beatrice, the Queen's ninth and youngest child, was 
born in 1857, and in 1861 the Queen lost both her mother and 
her husband. Prince Albert had succeeded in making himself 



198 TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 

generally beloved by tbe Englisb. He bad taken an active part 
in charitable, musical and otber work ; be bad energetically 
g^dvocated tbe first Crystal Palace Exbibition of 185 1, and be bad 
by bis influence, belped to correct social abuses, sucb as duelling. 
During tbe first year of bis residence in England be was 
subjected to a cold and suspicious treatment from some of tbe 
Englisb, wbo were afraid be migbt force foreign ideas upon tbe 
Queen, but wben it was found tbat Prince Albert was a man of 
great tact, and tbat be studiously refrained from mixing in 
political intrigues, be gradually won tbe respect, if not tbe affec- 
tion, of tbe Britisb public. After bis deatb tbe Queen lived a 
most secluded life for many years. 

BRINGING EDWARD TO THE FRONT, 

As soon as ber eldest son married, sbe entrusted to bim tbe 
direction of court social duties, preferring to live in comparative 
seclusion, eitber at Buckingbam Palace, wben in London, or at 
Windsor Castle or at Osborne, in tbe Isle of Wigbt ; or at Bal- 
moral Castle, about forty-five miles soutbwest of Aberdeen, in 
Scotland. 

One by one ber cbildren married, but for a long time sbe 
frowned upon tbe suitors of ber youngest daugbter, Beatrice, 
wisbing ber to remain single, and keeping ber as a constant com- 
panion. Among tbe Queen's personal friends after tbe Prince 
Consort's deatb was Sir Artbur Helps and bis family. Sir Tbeo- 
dore Martin — knigbted for bis services as biograpber of tbe 
Prince Consort — and Jobn Brown, a simple Scotcb body servant, 
wbose deatb in 1883 caused bis royal mistress mucb grief 

Beside tbe life of Prince Albert, just mentioned — published - 
in 1874 — in wbicb, of course, many personal details of tbe Queen's 
own life abound, sbe published in 1868 a work called ^' Leaves 
from tbe Journal of Our Life in tbe Highlands," and in 1883 
another volume of selections from her diary. She also supervised 
General Grey's book on "The Early Days of His Royal High- 
ness, the Prince Consort." All these productions show the 
Queen to have been a woman of plain common sense, conven- 



TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 199 

tionally Hnglisli, well-meaning, but stubborn. It is not possible 
to point to a single important measure wbicb she originated, but 
it is not tbe less true tbat sbe often differed from Her ministers 
and obstinately beld to ber views as long as tbe public will was 
not manifestly against ber. 

Sbe encouraged and exacted a moral standard among tbe 
courciers in striking contrast to tbe profligacy wbicb marked tbe 
reigix L)f ber uncle, George IV., and of tbe set of fast men and 
women wbom tbe Prince of Wales gatbered about bim wben be 
first directed court society. Tbe Queen, apart from ber large 
annual allowance, was enormously ricb, partly in ber own rigbt, 
partl}^ from tbe large sums sbe saved out of ber allowance, and 
partly from tbe occasional bequests of ber subjects. Sbe was 
inclined to economy, and at times was called decidedly "near " by 
disrespectful Britons. 

STORIES OF HER EARLY LIFE. 

Tbere are two well autbenticated anecdotes of tbe Queen's 
cbildbood and yontb wbicb are very cbaracteristic of ber to tbis 
day. Tbe one story is given by Bisbop Wilberforce on tbe 
autbority of ber former tutor, Davys, Bisbop of Peterborougb. 
It describes vividly one of tbe most conspicuous and bonorable 
features in tbe nature of tbe woman and tbe Queen, ber straigbt- 
forward, unswerving bonesty. 

Tbe cbild bad, cbild-like, been trifling over ber lessons, 
wbicb sbe was saying to ber tutor in tbe presence of ber gov- 
erness, wben tbe Ducbess of Kent entered tbe room, and asked 
bow tbe pupil was bebaving. 

" Sbe was a little troublesome once," answered tbe governess. 

"No, Lebzen, not once, but twice; don't j^ou remember" 
tbe small offender made tbe conscientious amendment. 

Tbe otber story is told by Baroness Lebzen wben sbe 
describes tbe means wbicb were taken to enligbten tbe carefully 
guarded ignorance of tbe girl in ber twelftb year as to tbe degree 
of nearness in wbicb sbe stood to tbe tbrone. 

Tbe scene was tbe sunny upper room used for tbe Princess' 



200 TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OP^ THE QUEEN. 

scliool room, liaviug tlie pleasant prospect over the open "gar- 
dens," witli their straight walks and round pond. The crisis was 
when Princess Victoria discovered the genealogical paper which 
had been purposely slipped into her book of history and expressed 
her suprise at finding the table there and was told that it had 
been judged time she should study it. 

Then with wide open blue eyes she took in its meaning, and 
said eagerly what she thought. The next words were the simple, 
heartfelt pledge, " I will be good," followed by the innocent 
application of the knowledge which had come to her to the neces- 
sity for learning Latin, which had hitherto puzzled her, and again 
the earnest promise, "I will be good." The long and gracious 
record of her life tells how the child was enabled to keep her 
word. 

AA^HAT SIR ^VALTER SCOTT SAID. 

When Victoria was nine years old, Sir Walter Scott, accord- 
ing to a record in his diary, dined with the Duchess of Kent, and 
by Prince Leopold was presented to "little Princess Victoria and 
heir apparent to the house, as things now stand." "This little 
lady," he adds, " is educated with much care and watched so 
closely that no busy maid has a moment to whisper: 'You are 
heir of England.' I suspect if we could dissect the little 
heart we should find that some pigeon or other bird of the air had 
carried the matter. She is fair, like the Royal Family." 

The fact is that neither at that time nor for years after did 

Victoria know anything of her pre-eminence, but was brought, up 

I with strict economy and regularity, being taught to restrain her 

.. expenditures within the limits of her income, even when that was 

' but a child's pocket money 

According to Miss Martineau, the Princess "was reared in as 
much honesty and care about money matters as any citizen's 
child. It became known at Tunbridge Wells that the Princess 
had been unable to buy a box at the bazaar because she had spent 
her money. At the bazaar she had bought presents for all her 
relatives, when she remembered one cousin more, and saw a box, 



TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 201 

priced lialf a crown, wliicli would suit him. Tlie sliop people, of 
course, placed the box with the other purchases, but the little 
lady's governess admonished them by saying: 'No, you see the 
Princess has not got the money ; therefore, of course, she can't 
buy the box.' The next offer was to lay the box aside until it 
jCould be purchased. The governess said : ' Oh, well, if you will 
be so good as to do that.' " 

On quarter day, before 7 o'clock in the morning, the Princess 
appeared on her donkey to claim her purchase. Concerning this 
story, Mrs. Oliphant writes: "This reads like a story out of 
'Sanford and Merton,' but the Princess Victoria came by her 
father's side of a lavish and largely spending race, and no doubt, 
on this account, the discipline under which she was trained 
became more severe." 

THAT REGENCY BILL. 

As a further explanation of Sir Walter Scott's mistake, a 
story told by the Baroness Selwyn, her governess, in 1854, in a 
letter to the Queen concerning the first intimation conveyed to 
Victoria as to the possibility of her future elevation, is of interest. 
The Baroness says as follows : "I ask your Majesty's leave to 
cite some remarkable words of your Majesty when only twelve 
years old, while the Regency bill was in progress. I then said 
to the Duchess of Kent that now, for the first time, your Majesty 
ought to know yoi:i r place in the succession. 

" Her Royal Highness argued with me, and I put the gene- 
alogical table into the historical book. When Mr. Davis (the 
Queen's instructor after the Bishop of Peterborough) was gone, 
the Princess Victoria opened the book again as usual, and, seeing 
the additional paper, said, 'I never saw that before.' 'It was not 
thought necessary you should, Princess,' I answered. ' I see I am 
nearer to the throne than I thought.' 'So it is madam,' I said. 

" After some moments the Princess resumed : ' Now, many a 
child would boast, but they don't know the difficulty. There is 
much splendor, but there is much responsibilit3^' The Princess 
having lifted up the forefinger of her right hand while she spoke, 



202 IRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 

gave me her left hand, saying : ' I will be good. I understand 
now why you urged me so much to learn even Latin. My 
cousins Augusta and Mary never did, but you told me Latin is 
the foundation of the English grammar, and of all the elegant 
expressions, and I learned it as you wished it, but I understand 
all better now;' and the little Princess gave me her hand, 
repeating, 'I will be good.' " 

It is seldom that a little scene like this stands out so distinct 
in the early story even of a life destined to greatness. The hush 
of awe upon the child ; the childish application of this great 
secret to the abstruse study of Latin, which was not required from 
the others ; the immediate resolution, so simple, yet concerning 
all that the wisest sage could have counselled or the greatest hero 
vowed — "I will be good" — make a perfect little picture. 

DEEPLY AFFECTED BY THE NEWS. 

It is the clearest appearance of the child Queen in her own 
person that we get through the soft obscurity of those childish 
years. The same hand which placed itself so solemnly in the 
anxious guardian's hand, to give w^eight to the simple vow, 
inscribed long after, in full maturity, a few words of recollection 
upon the margin of this narrative. " I cried much on hearing 
it,'- writes the Queen. No further words are needed to enhance 
the effect of this touching scene. 

The strong religious view, which she made no attempt to 
conceal, and yet which never resulted in acts of bigotry toward 
those who might hold different views, increased the respect with 
which she was regarded. Bishops, chaplains, cathedrals, services, 
prayer and, above all the Bible, were closely interwoven with her 
daily life. 

She did not scruple to declare that she regarded the Scrip- 
tures as the foundation of her nation's greatness and the bulwark 
of its security. After listening with interest to the eloquent ser- 
mons of the great divines who had access to her presence and 
whom she delighted to honor, she would seek to carry the com- 
forts of the good Book to the sick or aged cottager on her estate 



TRAITS AND ANECDOTES OF THE QUEEN. 203 

with the simplicity of a Bible woman and without the least 
shadow of ostentation. 

Other sovereigns have undoubtedly been more talented, more 
aggressive and more ambitious. But Queen Victoria has been a 
woman with a heavt. The sorrows of her people have never 
knocked vainly at her door. The tear of sympathy has been 
mingled with a nation's tears, as well as with the personal 
bereavements and sufferings of individuals. 

The poor believed that in Victoria they had a personal 
friend, a sympathizer, a sister, a mother. And they were not 
mistaken. The royal court was made a persistent centre for all 
sorts of charities. Toward the Salvation Army many acts of 
kindness were shown. Letters and telegrams of sympathy were 
sent on the occasion of national celebrations, invitations extended 
to attend public funqtions^ and on one occasion the palace 
grounds at Osborne were thrown open for a special gathering of 
Salvationists. The Queen and some of her ladies-in-waiting 
were frequent readers of the "War Cry." 

A NATIONAL MISFORTUNE. 

The death of Queen Victoria could not fail to be regarded 
by every section of the British Empire as a national misfortune. 
Indeed, in some senses it was regarded as an international one. 
In an age of democracy the Queen did not hesitate to meet the 
people more than half way. She was perhaps the most demo- 
cratic ruler of her day, respected the Constitution, accepted 
advisers of an opposite political faith when sent to her by the 
people, and submitted in silence to the anathemas of those who 
hated monarchies, without seeking to gag the press, or raise an 
outcry of "Treason!" 

She sought to encourage the comity of nations. Her whole 
influence was thrown into the scale against war, however right- 
eous might appear the cause. A sincere Christian, a wise ruler, 
an affectionate wife, a kind mother, a lover of the poor, Victoria 
was, in the best sense of the word, and will pass down to posterity 
as "a people's Queen." 



204 INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 

Her court was pure ; her life serene, 

God gave her peace ; her land reposed ; 
A thousand claims to reverence closed 

In her as Mother, Wife and Queen. 

And statesmen at her council met 
Who knew the seasons when to take 
Occasion by the hand, and make 

The bounds of freedom wider yet. 

By shaping some august decree. 

Which kept her throne unshaken still, 
Broad-based upon her people's will, 

And compassed by the inviolate sea, 

— Tennyson. 



CHAPTER X. 

Incidents in Victoria's Life. 

'"PHB personal incidents of Queen Victoria's reign and tlie char- 
■^ acter of her private life present an edifying contrast to the 
most conspicuous traits in the characters of the sovereigns who 
reigned before her. The image of Victoria will long be held up 
for imitation as that of a model wife and mother. 

She added a new link to the bond of affection subsisting 
between herself and her people in presenting them with the record 
of her private life in those happy years when the shadow of her 
great loss had not darkened it No sovereign before her had 
been willing to put the leaves of her own private daily notebook 
into the hands of her people and thus treat them almost as 
household friends. 

This is what her Majesty did, however, in her simple and 
homely pages, and they are, indeed, just what they are called — 
"Leaves from the Diary" of a happy married English wife who 
wrote it in hours when she could forget for a little while that, 
besides being this, she was also the sovereign mistress of the 
mighty British Empire. In this book are seen her love of beau- 
tiful scenery, her readiness to be pleased, her attachment to old 
servants, and her strong love of her family and household. 

It has been remarked by those who were privileged to con- 
verse with her on theology or historical subjects that she was 
thoroughly Protestant in her religion, and that she kept up quite 
a sentimental feeling of sympathy with the Stuarts. Going one 
day into the library at Windsor Castle she discovered the libra- 
rian reading some strong Jacobite memoirs. " Oh, you need not 
put them away," she said, "you know I am a Jacobite myself." 

This does not quite tally with the story which Macaulay used 
to tell of the Queen's opinion of James II. During Macaulay' s 
visit to Windsor the Queen «iaid : "I have been reading your 

205 



206 INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 

History, Mr. Macaulay, and I am afraid I can't say mucTi for my 
ancestor, James II." " Yonr Majesty's predecessor, not ancestor," 
corrected Macaulay. 

One day, during her first visit to the Royal Lodge (Winsdor 
Park), King William entered the drawing room, holding his 
niece by the hand. The band was playing in an adjoining 
conservatory. 

"Now, Victoria," said His Majesty, "the band is in the next 
room, and shall play any tune you please. What shall it be ? " 
"Oh, uncle King," quickly replied the Princess, "I should like 
'God Save the King. '" 

Another time his Majesty asked her what she had enjoyed 
most during her stay in Windsor. " The drive I took with you, 
Uncle King," was the answer, the King Aiaving himself driven 
her in his pony phaeton, in company with the Duchess of 
Gloucester. 

GRAND ENTRY INTO LONDON. 

It was not until November, 1837, that the Queen made her 
state entry into London. It was not until June of the following 
year that she was crowned and the orb and scepter given into her 
hands. The historians of that day described the spectacle of her 
formal entry as one of grandeur. A spirit of medieval gorgeous- 
ness and revelry was abroad. The streets were hung with ban- 
ners ; balconies were draped with silken festoons, and every busi- 
ness house along the route, every private dwelling, was brilliant 
with color. 

The Queen rode in the famous state coach, drawn by eight 
cream-colored horses. She wore a robe of pink satin shot with 
^silver, and upon her forehead was a superb tiara glittering with 
mamonds. The youth, the beauty, the graciousness of the youngj 
Queen on that day, bound her to the masses of her people by ties 
that were never broken save by death. Two comments, from 
critics occupying widely different standpoints, upon her appear- 
ance that day are worth repeating. 

" She is eminently beautiful," wrote Wilker, the artist 



INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 207 

" Her features are nicely formed, lier skin is smootli and clear, 
her hair, whicli is worn close to lier face and simply, is glossy 
and bewitcKing." 

Joseph Sturge, the Quaker philanthropist of Birmingham, 
said of the young mona«rch on this day : "A nice, pleasant, 
modest young woman ; graceful, though a little sh}^, yet every 
inch a queen." 

After the King's death, Victoria met her council at Kensing- 
ton Palace. " Never was anything," wrote the clerk of the 
'council, 'Mike the impression she produced or the chorus of praise 
and admiration which was raised about her manner, and certainl}- 
not without justice. It was very extraordinary, and something 
far beyond what was looked for. 

"The first thing to be done was to teach her her lesson, 
which for this purpose Melbourne had himself to learn. He 
asked her if she would enter the room accompanied b}' the great 
officers of state, but she said she would come iv alone." 

THE YOUNG QUEEN ENTERS. 

After having received the two royal dukes, the two arch- 
bishops, the Chancellor and the Prime Minister— Lord Mel' 
bourne — the proclamation was read to the council, the usual 
order passed, the doors were thrown open and the young Queen 
entered. 

On the day of her coronation the Queen had some trouble in 
keeping the crown upon her head. Every salutation she made 
threatened to displace the imperial diadem, and her efforts to 
retain it in the rightful pose were impeded by the Sceptre and 
Orb which she carried in her right and left hands respectively. 

The then Duchess of Sutherland endeavored to assist the 
• young Sovereign, and both ladies laughed very much at the 
awkwardness of the situation. Upon reaching Hyde Park Corner, 
on the return journey, the girl Queen, overpowered by the excite- 
ment and fatigue of the day, let the Sceptre fall from her hand 
and burst into a flood of tears. 

It was soon obvious that the youthful Queen had a will of 



208 INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 

her own, and meant to exercise it as far as slie could. Man 3^ 
anotlier young girl would have been willing to do exactly as she 
was told by her Council without argument, but Victoria ques- 
tioned. Once, when her Prime Minister urged expediency in 
signing a document, she stopped him and exclaimed, " I have 
been taught, my lord, to judge what is right and wrong ; but 
expediency is a word which I neither wish to hear nor under- 
stand." No wonder, after this, that Lord Melbourne laughingly 
remarked that he would rather have ten Kings to manage than 
one Queen. 

With regard to her independence, she gave ample proof of it 
in her famous refusal to change the ladies of her bedchamber 
when the Peel Ministry was to have succeeded that of Mel- 
bourne. According to precedent, the change in the Ministry 
should have extended to the Queen's personal attendants. But 
Victoria ruled otherwise. She had become attached to some of 
her ladies, and she declined to part with them. 

DEFIANCE OF COURT ETIQUETTE. 

The consequences of this defiance of precedent, so unlike the 
Queen's usual conservative course, were far-reaching to a degree 
which is incomprehensible to those unacquainted with the com- 
plicated relations existing between court etiquette and state 
policy. Peel withdrew. Melbourne continued in power two 
years longer, and, as the former Lord Chancellor said: "The 
Jamaica question is to be new fashioned, and principles are to be 
given up for two ladies of the bedchamber." 

Victoria was crowned Queen on June 20, 1838, at West- 
minster Abbey. The pageant was of a magnificence hitherto 
unheard of Representatives of more foreign potentates were 
present than at any previous coronation of an English monarch. 
The nobility vied with each other in raiment and equipages. It 
is recorded that therobes and uniforms were so universally radi- 
ant that the Austrian Ambtissador did not attract any special 
remark, though he wore jewels worth half a million florins. 

The Queen rode to and from the abbey in the famous glass 



INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 209 

coacli built eighty years before. It bas been used at the coroua- 
tiou of ber grandfatber, and of William IV. Tbe old state crown 
was not used. It bad weigbed over seven pounds, and was 
deemed too beavy for tbe young bead of Victoria. It was there- 
fore broken up and out of it a new crown was constructed. It 
weigbed less tban balf as mucb as tbe old one. Tbe value of tbe 
precious stones in tbe crown alone was estimated $563,000, or 
/ii2,76o. 

An incident wbicb occurred during tbe ceremony revealed to 
tbe people tbe character of their new Queen. Old Lord Ralle 
stumbled on tbe steps of the throne when be knelt to offer homage 
and Her Majesty instantly sprung up in ready self-forgetfulness 
to assist him to bis feet. Tbe story was carried back to mau}^ of 
tbe foreign countries represented at tbe coronation, with the 
amusing explanation that the Lords Ralle held their title by 
virtue of going through this same undignified and painful exper- 
ience at every coronation, 

A MAN FOLLOWS THE QUEEN. 

An amusing, but none tbe less embarassing, incident of tbe 
Queen's short maiden reign was ber persecution by a man named 
Hummings, who was regarded as insane, who aspired to ber 
hand. He followed ber about like a shadow. He drove a coach 
that was a facsimilie of that owned by tbe Ducbest of Kent, and 
dressed his servants in the royal livery. On tbe Queen's birth- 
day be illuminated his house and distributed to tbe passers-by so 
many hogsheads of free beer that the celebration ended in a 
miniature riot. Tbe police put an abrupt end to Mr. Humming' s 
career. 

Tbe early y ars of the future Queen were passed in an 
atmosphere of what might be termed royal poverty. Her parents 
concentrated everything upon the education of tbe child, with the 
result that at the time of ber accession to the throne tbe young 
Princess was perhaps tbe most accomplished woman of ber age in 
Europe. Although tbe prospect of a throne was ever before ber 
fro«i her birth, there were se\'eral lives between ber and tbe 

14 



210 INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 

crown. It was not until 1830, when the childless William IV. 
succeeded to the scepter that her position as heir presumptive 
became assured. 

The education of the future Queen was directed by her 
mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her uncle, Leopold of Belgium. 
During this period she resided with her parents at Kensington 
Palace, and at the country place, Claremont. In her choice of 
studies Princess Victoria showed a marked preference for history, 
geography, drawing and music. Her love for the latter prevailed 
to the last days of her life. The most precious souvenirs that 
her personal friends have preserved of their beloved mistress and 
Queen are the pen and ink sketches and water-color drawings of 
her Majesty's early years. 

VERY FOND OF MUSIC. 

Her love of music was marked by keen discrimination, both 
as to composers and performers. Every great lyric artist, every 
musician of any prominence has appeared at some time at Wind- 
sor or Osborne by royal command, while the generosity of the 
Queen has been attested in the most substantial tokens of her 
pleasure. 

She was very fond of music, both vocal and instrumental, 
and she had a personal acquaintance with all the most distin- 
guished performers. She could not go to the opera, so she had 
the opera come to her at Windsor. She would sometimes com- 
mand the leading performers to appear before her in concerts for 
the entertainment of guests, and often she summoned singers 
for her own enjoyment. 

She would listen with pleasure to her favorite music, and 
after the performance she would cause the operatic stars to be 
brought to her, so that she might thank them in person. She 
' always gave them presents of value, sometimes with her own 
hands and sometimes through others. These were bracelets or 
brooches set with precious stones and bearing the letters "V. R. 
I." or her photograph in a silver frame, with her autograph 
written across it. 



INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 211 

These gifts are now among the proudest possessions of the 
singers who own them, and who are unanimous in praise of the 
Queen's thoughtfulness and courtesy. 

Jean and Edouard de Reszke were among the Queen's favor- 
ites on the operatic stage, and they often appeared before her. 
In response to a request, the brothers joined last night in pre- 
paring the following account of the Queen's attitude toward her 
entertainers : 

. "We have the pleasantest and brightest souvenir of Her 
Majesty Queen Victoria's kindness to us. Every season when 
in London we were asked several times to perform in opera or 
concerts before Her Gracious Majesty and the royal family at 
Windsor, and at every performance we were the objects of the 
most flattering praise and admiration, as well as the recipients of 
the most exquisite presents, chosen from Her Gracious Majesty's 
own silver plate, as salvers, cups, candelabra. 

FAVORITE COMPOSITIONS OF THE QUEEN. 

"We generally sang French and Italian compositions before 
Her Majesty, as Gounod, Verdi, etc., were great favorites of the 
Queen ; but once we were invited to a special private concert 
given in honor of her daughter, the Empress Frederick, and on 
that occasion we sang in German and a choice of Wagucr music, 
which met with the greatest success. 

"Nothing could be kinder than the forethought of the Queen 
for our welfare. For instance, when we sang the last time 
'Lohengrin' in Windsor we received on the next morning a tele- 
graphic message from Her Majesty wanting to know if we were 
not too tired and had not taken cold on the trip. 

"We have beautiful souvenirs from her Majesty and the 
royal family which we cherish greatly, but the greatest honor 
was conferred on us by the Queen decorating us both with the Vic- 
torian Order." 

Maurice Grau often met the Queen in connection with per- 
formances given before her by his company. 

" Queen Victoria was a very amiable woman," said he. "You 



212 INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 

know her eyesiglit was impaired, and in consequence of tliat slie 
took nincli pleasure in music. She enjoyed the opera very much. 
During the Jubilee year we always gave the performance at 
Windsor. She often had the singers come up alone. Plancon 
has sung to her two hours at a time. She always chose her own 
music and selected the opera which she wished to hear. When I 
met her she always spoke to me in German. She took much inter- 
est in the singers and wanted to know all about them." 

Suzanne Adams Stern and her husband, Leo Stern, fre- 
quently appeared before the Queen. Miss Adams sang last sea- 
son before her with Calve at Buckingham Palace, and then as 
Marguerite in " Faust," which was the last time the Queen heard 

opera. 

BEAUTIFUL PRESENT TO THE SINGER. 

" She sent for Miss Adams after the performance," said Mr. 
Stern, " and gave her with her own hands a brooch with her mon- 
ogram set in diamonds. She was very fond of music, and at 
one time -played the piano beautifully herself She also took a 
personal interest in the artists. She told Miss Adams the last 
time she saw her that her voice was better than ever, and asked 
whether her husband was going with her on her trip to this 
country and what were her plans for the holidays. She remem- 
bered that the season before I had stayed behind to fulfill an 
engagement in England. 

"She alwa3^s asked for Miss Adams, who sang before her in 
private several times. On such occasions the artist would make 
out a list of songs and the Queen would choose those she liked. 
She always applauded at the end of the performance, and sent fof 
the musicians, that she might say a few kinds words to each one." 

Ever after her accession to the throne, Victoria has played a 
conspicuous and consistent part in the administration of the 
affairs of Great Britain. Under her wise and beneficent rule, 
there were gathered more human beings, of wider diversity of race 
and tongue, in a greater area of territory in every clime than 
have ever been known under one sovereign before in the history 
of the world. 




A FAMILY GROUP AT BALMORAL: FOUR GENERATIONS 




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- INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 213 

The scepter that has passed from her hand stretched over 
11,000,000 square miles of territory with a population estimated 
at 385,000,000 souls. The burden of government, the strain of 
war, the sorrows of domestic bereavement brought the end which 
years had almost defied. 

President Buchanan in June, i860, when it became known 

'^that the Prince of Wales was planning a visit to Canada, wrote 

to Queen Victoria inviting him to come to the United States. 

Her unaffected and cordial reply indicated her ;yood will to the 

United States. 

"I have learned from the public journals," wrote the Presi- 
dent, "that the Prince of Wales is about to visit Your Majesty's 
North American dominions. Should it be the intention of His 
Royal Highness to extend his visit to the United States I need 
not say how happy I should be to give him 9 cordial welcome to 
Washington. 

WELCOME TO THE HEIR APPARENT. 

"You may be well assured that everywhere in this country he 
will be greeted by the American people in such a manner as can- 
not fail to prove gratifying to Your Majesty. In this they will 
manifest their deep sense of your domestic virtues as well as 
their convictions of your merit as a wise patriot and constitutional 
sovereign." 

To this Queen Victoria returned the following reply as soon 
as she received the letter : — 

"Buckingham Palace, June 22, i860. 
"My Good Friend: — I have been much gratified at the 
feelings which prompted you to write to me inviting the Prince 
of Wales to come to Washington. He intends to return from 
Canada through the United States, and it will give him great 
pleasure to have an opportunity of testifying to you in person 
that these feelings are fully reciprocated by him. He will thus 
be able at the same time to mark the respect which he entertains 
for the Chief Magistrate of a great and friendly state and kindred 
nation. 



214 INCIDEI-^T^ IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 

"The Prince of Wales wUl drop all royal state in leaving my 
dominions and travel nnder tlie name of Lord Renfrew, as lie lias 
done when travelling on the Continent of Bnrope. 

" The Prince Consort wishes to be kindly remembered to 
you. I remain ever vonr good friend, 

"VICTORIA R.'' 

The Prince cf Wales, in accordance with President Buchanan's 
invitation, remained five days in Washington on his trip through 
this country. 

In 1871 the Prince of Wales fell ill with typhoid fever. For 
many days his life was despaired of, and upon his recoverey a 
wave of enthusiasm culminated in a public thanksgiving in St. 
Paul's Cathedral, where the Queen appeared leaning on the arm 
of her son, the great throng congratulating her. 

Queen Victoria's personal share in the government of her 
country was remarkable. Of the millions of people who are to-day 
so lightly speaking of the Queen as acting on the advice of hei' 
ministers but a comparative few are aware how largely those 
ministers were aided in their deliberations by the royal advice. 

ALWAYS ATTENDED TO DETAILS. 

She signed no state paper without first reading it, and, until 
the weight of years crushed her, permitted no subordinate to 
relieve her of her supervision of details. In the troubled year of 
1848, that of the Chartist agitation, each one of the 28,000 des- 
patches which came to the foreign office alone passed through her 
hands. The weight of her influence was ever thrown on the side 
of peace, justice and liberality. 

On New Year's Day, 1877, Victoria was formally proclaimed 
Bmpress of India, before a brilliant assemblage of the Princes of 
India at Delhi. By this act, the keystone was fitted to the arch 
of British Oriental rule that began with Clive and has been 
maintained by every great British commander since. 

The marvelous reign of Queen Victoria was strewn with 
more events of personal interest than have occurred in the life of 
any other monarch. In 1887 the fiftieth anniversary of her 



INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 215 

accession to the throne was commemorated with impressive cere- 
monies and an air of rejoicing nnequaled to that day. It was 
only surpassed by the splendors of the Diamond Jubilee in 1897. 
Part of Lord Tennyson's ode in honor of her Golden Jubilee 
was as follows : 

She, beloved for a kindliness 

Rare in fable or history, 

Queen and Empress of India, 

Crowned so long with a diadem 

Never worn by a worthier, 

Now, with prosperous auguries. 

Comes at last to the bounteous 

Crowning year of her jubilee. 

Queen as true to womanhood as Queenhood, 

Glorying in the glories of her people, 

Sorrowing with the sorrows of the lowest ! 

ODE OF THE POET LAUREATE, 

The occasion of her Diamond Jubilee drew commemorative 
lines from ^ Ifred Austin, poet laureate : 

The dew was on the summer lawn, 

The roses bloomed the woods were green, 
When forth there came as fresh as dawn, 

A maiden with majestic mein. 
They girt a crown about her brow 

They placed a sceptre in her hand, 
And loud rang out a nation's vow, 

" God guard the lady of the land 1 ** 

And now the cuckoo calls once more. 

And once again June's roses blow. 
And round her throne her people pour, 

Recalling sixty years ago 
And all the goodly days between, 

Glory and sorrow, love and pain. 
The wifely mother, widowed Queen, 

The loftiest, as the longest, reign. 



^16 INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 

She shared her subjects bane and bhss, 

Weldomed the wish, the base withstood, 
And taught by her clear Hfe, it is 

The greatest greatness to be good. 
Yet while for peace she wrought and prayed, 

She bore the trident, wore the helm, 
And, mistress of the main, she made 

An empire of her island realm. 

So, gathering now, from near, from far, 

From rule whereon ne'er sets the day, 
From Southern Cross and northern star. 

Her people lift their hearts, and pray. 
Longer and longer may she reign 

And, through a summer night serene 
Whence day doth never wholly wane. 

God spare and bless our Empress Queen ! 

VICTORIA'S MAGNIFICENT LIBRARY. 

The Queen liad a library of 120,000 volumes, and Mrs. Oli- 
phant \vas the most intimate personal friend of the Queen among 
novelists. Her Majest}^ always read Mrs. Oliphant's books with 
enjoyment. Among English writers the Queen's favorite poets 
were Shakespeare, Walter Scott, Tennyson and Adelaide Proctor. 
To hymns by Bonar and Faber she was especially attached. Her 
favorite novelists were all women — ^Jane Austen, Charlotte 
Bronte, Mrs. Oliphant, Mrs. Craik, George Eliot and Edna Lyall. 

With German literature the 1 Queen was also familiar, her 
favorite writers being Schiller, Goethe and Heine. In the liter- 
ture of France it is natural to find that writers of memoirs, in 
which that country is so peculiarly rich, have a conspicuous place, 
iind to the charm of surly Saint-Simon the Queen was keenly 
alive. Among French poets and dramatists the Queen's favorites 
were Racine, Corneille and Lamartine. 

Her majesty herself was an author. When Charles Dickens 
was summoned to Windsor the Queen gave him a copy of her 
"Journals," inscribed, "To the greatest of British authors, from 



INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 



:i7 



the humblest." The Queen was the only author in England 
whose copyright never comes to an end. An ordinary person 
publishing a book has the exclusive right to publish and sell it 




PAGODA OF CHILLENBAUM— INDIA. 

as long as he lives and for seven years after his death, or for 
forty-two years from the date of its first publication, but the 
Queen's copyright of anything Her Majesty published never 
ended, 



218 INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 

It is no mere empty compliment to say tliat fhe Queen was 
one of the cleverest women of lier time. She was more tlian 
seventy wlien site began tlie study of Hindoostanee, wMcli slie 
mastered so well as to be able to keep a diary in that language. 

Her majesty was always able to write with both hands, and 
it is not surprising that she took great pride in this unusual 
accomplishment. On one occasion King Leopold of Belgium, to I 
whom she was very much attached, complimented her on her 
remarkable dexterity. The young Princess looked up a moment 
and retorted, " Ambidexterity, you mean, uncle." 

The Queen received for her services from the British people 
something like $120,000,000. Her of&cial income was $1,875,000 
a year, $2,500,000 less than the Bmperor of Austria, $1,000,000 
less than King Victor's, $500,000 less than the Shah of Persia's 
and only half as much as the Kaiser's. But 170 tons of English 
sovereigns is a handsome life salary, for that is what the public 
income of the Queen would weigh. 

RECEIVED LARGE LEGACIES. 

Her Majesty received at least two windfalls — one large, the 
other comparatively small. Mr. Neild, who died in 1852, bequeathed 
to the Queen a fortune of $1,000,000. Her Majesty inquired if 
there were any relatives, saying that in that case she would not 
accept the money ; but it developed that Mr. Neild died without 
issue or relatives and the Queen accepted the legacy. At another 
time Mr. Newhouse Heywood, having died intestate, his property, 
valued at $50,000, fell to the Queen, his estate being within the 
Duchy of Lancaster. 

It is not, perhaps, generally known that the Queen, besides 
being the legal head of the church, was its oldest of&cial. For 
more than sixty years she held the rank of Prebendary of St. 
David's Cathedral. 

All of the Queen's children, except the Princess Louise, 
Duchess of Argyle, have had families of children, and Queen 
Victoria leaves surviving her about fifty grandchildren and great- 
grandchildren. Not ony may she be said to have been a great 



INCIDENTS IN VICTORIA'S LIFE. 219 

Queen and Empress, but a great mother of Kings, Queens and 
Emperors. 

Besides a son who will be seated upon the British throne, 
she has a grandson who is King of Prussia and German Empe- 
ror ; another grandson who is Grand Duke of Hesse, and still 
another who is Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In addition to) 
these actual rulers among her descendants, a granddaughter, 
daughter of her daughter Alice, is the consort of the present 
Czar of Russia, and in due time in all probability the Russian 
Empire will also be ruled by a descendant of Queen Victoria in 
the third generation. 

DEATH OF HER BELOVED MOTHER. 

An event in the personal history of the Queen which touched 
her deeply was the death of her mother, the Duchess of Kent, on 
March i6, 1861, only a few months before the death of her hus- 
band. This double bereavement caused the Queen to withdraw 
for many years from the publicity which she had not sought to 
avoid during the early part of her reign. As time passed, how- 
ever, and her grief became less poignant, she again appeared in 
public on state occasions. 

She reappeared now and then at the opening of Parliament, 
and in 1887 celebrated her Jubilee with imposing ceremonials a 
still more impressive ceremonial occurring ten years later, when 
she celebrated the completion of the sixtieth year of her reign by 
a Diamond Jubilee. Twice also she visited Ireland, the first 
occasion being in 1849 and the last in 1900. 

As already stated several times during her childhood the 
Queen escaped death almost as by a miracle, and no less than five 
attempts were made upon her life by would-be assassins, none of 
of whom, however, succeeded in inflicting any serious bodily 
injury upon her. 

The most serious of these attempts was that made on May 
27, 1850, by Robert Pate, an ex-officer of Hussars, who for no 
assignable reason other than insanity struck her a violent blow in 
the face with his cane, which actually caused the blood to flow, as 



220 INCIDENTS IN VICTORIANS LIFE. 

tlie Queen was leaving tlie Duke of Cambridge's residence ontlie 
date named. Tlie Queen's assailant was sentenced to seven years' 
transportation, but liis insanity was so clearly establisbed tbat 
tbe tliree wbippings to wbich lie was also liable under tlie special 
Act of Parliament providing for liis trial were omitted. 

None of tbe otlier assailants of tlie Queen ever succeeded in 
harming ber person, altbougli tliree of tbem fired ball cartridges 
at ber at sbort range. Tbe last incident of tbis character occurred 
on Marcb 2, 1882, wben a pistol sbot was aimed at ber carriage 
by a man named Roderick McLean, as sbe was passing in it from 
tbe railway station to tbe castle at Windsor. In none of tbe 
attempted assaults upon tbe Queen was tbere found tbe slightest 
political motive or influence. 




PRINCESS VICTORIA OF WALES, DAUGHTER OF KING EDWARD VII, 

IN HER BOUDOIR 




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THE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AT WINDSOR: SERENADE 
IN THE COURTYARD OF THE CASTLE 




QUEEN VICTORIA TAKING THE RELIGIOUS OATH, 
WESTMINSTER ABBEY, JUNE 28th, 183*' 



CHAPTER XI. 

The Queen's First Visit to Ireland. 

FROM Victoria's Journal, a work written by her own hand and 
famed among the books of her era, we present her account of 
her first visit to the Kmerald Isle. This account is here 
reproduced just as it appears in the Queen's famous Journal. 

On Board the Victoria and Albert^ in the Cove of Cork^ 

Thursday^ August 2d. ; 
Arrived here after a quick but not very pleasant passage. 
The day was fine and bright, and the sea, to all appearance, very 
smooth ; but there was a dreadful swell, which made one incapable 
of reading or doing anything. We passed the Land's End at nine 
o'clock in the morning. When we went on deck after eight in the 
evening, we were close to the Cove of Cork, and could see many 
bonfires on the hill, and the rockets and lights that were sent off 
from the different steamers. 

BEAUTY OF THE IMMENSE HARBOR. 

The harbor is immense, though the land is not very high, 

and, entering by twilight, it had a very fine effect. Lady Jocelyn, 

Miss Dawson, Lord Fortescue (Lord Steward), Sir George Grey 

(Secretary of State for the Home Department), Miss Hildyard, Sir 

James Clark, and Mr. Birch are on board with us. The equerries, 

Colonel Phipps and Colonel Gordon, are on board the ''Black 

Eagle." 

Friday .^ August ^d. 

The day was gray and excessively "muggy," which is the 
character of the Irish climate. The ships saluted at eight o'clock, 
and the " Ganges " (the flag-ship and a three-decker) and the 
"Hogue" (a three-decker cut down, with very heavy guns, and 
with a screw put into her), which are both very near us, made a 
great noise. The harbor is very extensive, and there are several 
islands in it, one of which is very large. Spike Island is immedi- 
ately opposite us, and has a convict prison ; near it another island 

221 



222 THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 

with the depot, etc. In a line with that is the town of Cove, 
picturesquely built up a hill. 

The two war-steamers have only just came in. The Admiral 
(Dickson) and the Captains of the vessels came on board. Later, 
Lord Bandon (Lord Lieutenant of the county), Lord Thomond, 
General Turner, Commander of the Forces and Cork, presented 
their respects, and Albert went on shore, and I occupied myself in 
writing and sketching. Albert returned before our luncheon, and 
had been walking about and visiting some of the cabins. 

SALUTED BY THE SHIPS. 

We left the yacht at two with the ladies and gentlemen, and 
went on board the " Fairy," which was surrounded with rowing and 
sailing boats. We first went round the harbor, all the ships 
saluting, as well as numbers of steamers and yachts. We then 
went in to Cove, and lay alongside the landing-place, which was 
very prettily decorated, and covered with people ; and yachts, 
ships, and boats crowding all round. The two members, Messrs. 
Roche and Power, as well as other gentlemen, including the 
Roman Catholic and Protestant clergymen, and then the members 
of the Yacht Club presented addresses. 

After which, to give the people the satisfaction of calling the 
place Queenstown, in honor of its being the first spot on which I 
set foot upon Irish ground, I stepped on shore amid the roar of 
cannon (for the artillery w^ere placed so close as quite to shake the 
temporary room which we entered) and the enthusiastic shouts of 
the people. We immediately re-embarked, and proceeded up the 
River Lee toward Cork. It is extremely pretty and richly wooded, 
and reminded me of the Tamar. The first feature of interest we 
passed was a little bathing-place called Monkstown, and later 
Blackrock Castle, at which point we stopped to receive a salmon, 
and very pretty address from the poor fisherman of Blackrock. 

As we approached the city we saw people streaming in, on 
foot, on horseback, and many in jaunting-cars. When we reached 
Cork the " Fairy " again lay alongside, and we received all the 
addresses : first, from the Mayor and Corporation (I knighted the 



THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 223 

Mayor immediately afterward) ; then from the Protestant Bishop 
and clergy ; from the Roman Catholic Bishop and clergy ; from 
the Lord Lieutenant of the county, the Sheriffs and others. The 
two Judges, who were holding their courts, also came on board in 
their robes. 

After all this was over we landed, and walked some few paces 
on to where Lord Blandon's carriage was ready to receive us. The 
ladies went with us, and Lord Blandon and the General rode 
on each side of the carriage. The Mayor preceded us, and many 
(Lord Listowel among the number) followed on horseback or in 
carrriages. The 12th Lancers escorted us, and the Pensioners and 
Infantry lined the streets. 

FLOWERS AND TRIUMPHAL ARCHES. 

I can not describe our route, but it will suffice to say that it 
took two hours ; that we drove through the principal streets ; 
twice through some of them ; that they were densely crowded, 
decorated with flowers and triumphal arches ; that the heat and 
dust were great ; that we passed by the new College which is 
building — one of the four which are ordered by Act of Parliament; 
that our reception was most enthusiastic ; and that everything 
went off to perfection, and was very well arranged. Cork is not at 
all like an English town, and looks rather foreign. The crowd is 
a noisy, excitable, but very good-humored one, running and push- 
ing about, and laughing, talking, and shrieking. The beauty of 
the women is remarkable, and struck us very much ; such beauti- 
ful dark eyes and hair, and such fine teeth ; almost every third 
woman was pretty, and some remarkably so. 

They wear no bonnets and generally long blue cloaks ; the 
men are very poorly, often raggedly dressed ; and many wear blue 
coats and short breeches, with blue stockings. 

We re-embarked at the same place, and returned just as we came. 

Kingston Hm'bor^ Dublin Bay^ 

Sunday^ August ^th. 
Safely arrived here : I now continue my account. For the 
first two hours and a half the sea, though rough, was not disagree- 



224 THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 

able. We entered Waterford Harbor yesterday at twenty minutes 
to four o'clock. The harbor is rocky on the right as one enters, 
and very flat to the left ; as one proceeds the land rises on either 
side. We passed a little fort called Duncannon Fort, whence James 
II. embarked after the battle of the Boyne, and from which they 
had not saluted for fifty j^ears. 

LITTLE FISHING VILLAGE. 

Farther up, between two little villages, and on either side, each 
with its little chapel, picturesquely situated on the top of the rock 
or hill, we anchored. The little fishing-place to our left is called 
Passage, and is famous for Salmon : we had an excellent specimen 
for our dinner. Albert decided on going to Waterford, ten miles 
up the river, in the " Fairy," with the boys, but as I felt giddy and 
tired, I preferred remaining quietly on board sketching. Albert 
returned after seven o'clock ; he had not landed. 

Viceregal Lodge^ Phcenix Park^ 

Monday August 6th. 

Here we are in this very pretty spot, with a lovely view of the 
Wicklow Hills from the window. But now to return to yesterday's 
proceedings. We got under weigh at half-past eight o'clock ; for 
three hours it was drcadfull}^ rough, and I and the poor children 
were very sea-sick. When we had passed the Tuscar Rock in 
Wexford the sea became smoother, and shortly after quite smooth, 
and the evening beautiful. After we passed Arklow Head the 
Wicklow Hills came in sight; the}^ are beautiful. 

The Sugarloaf and Carrick Mountain have finely-pointed out- 
lines, with low hills in front and much wood. At half-past six we 
came in sight of Dublin Bay, and were met by the "Sphinx " and 
" Stromboli " (which had been sent on to wait and to come in with 
us), the "Trident," and, quite close to the harbor, by the "Dragon," 
another war-steamer. With this large squadron we steamed slowly 
and majestically into the harbor of Kingston, which was covered 
with thousands and thousands of spectators, cheering most enthu- 
siastically. It is a splendid harbor, and was full of ships of every 
kind. 



THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 225 

The wharf, where the landing place was prepared, was densely 
crowded, and altogether it was a noble and stirring scene. It was 
just seven when we entered, and the setting sun lit up the country, 
the fine buildings, and the whole scene with a glowing light, which 
was truly beautiful. We were soon surrounded by boats, and the 
enthusiasm and excitement of the people were extreme. 

While we were at breakfast the yacht was brought close up to 
the wharf, which was lined with troops. Lord and Lady Clarendon 
and George, the Duke of Cambridge, came on board ; also Lords 
Lansdowne and Canricarde, the Primate, the Archbishop of Dublin, 
and many others. The address was presented by the Sheriff and 
gentlemen of the county. As the clock struck ten we disem- 
barked, stepping on shore from the yacht, Albert leading me and 
the children, and all the others following us. 

GREETED BY A GREAT THRONG. 

An immense multitude had assembled, who cheered most enthu- 
siastically, the ships saluting and the bands playing, and it was 
really very striking. The space we had to walk along to the rail- 
road was covered in, and lined with ladies and gentlemen strewing 
flowers. We entered the railway carriages with the children, the 
Clarendons, and the three ladies, and in a quarter of an hour 
reached the Dublin Station. Here we found our carriages with the 
postillions in their Ascot liveries. 

The two eldest children went with us, and the two younger 
ones with the three ladies. Sir Edward Blakeney, Commander-in- 
Chief in Ireland, rode on one side of the carriage, and George on 
the other, followed by a brilliant staff, and escorted by the 17th 
Lancers and the Carabiniers. 

It was a wonderful and striking scene, such masses of human 
beings, so enthusiastic, so excited, yet such perfect order main- 
tained ; then the number of troops, the different bands stationed at 
certain distances, the waving of hats and handkerchiefs, the bursts 
of welcome which rent the air — all made it a never-to-be-forgotten 
scene, when one reflected how lately the country had been in open 

revolt and under martial law. 

15 ..^ ^ . 



226 THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 

Dublin is a very fine city, and Sackville street and Merrion 
Square are remarkably large and handsome ; and the Bank, Trinity 
College, etc., are noble buildings. There are no gates to the town, 
but temporary ones were erected under an arch ; and here we 
stopped, and the Mayor presented me the keys with some appro- 
priate words. At the last triumphal arch a poor little dove was let 
down into my lap, with an olive branch round its neck, alive and 
very tame. The heat and dust were tremendous. 

RECEIVED AT PHCENIX PARK. 

We reached Phoenix Park, which is very extensive, at twelve. 

Lord and Lady Clarendon and all the household received us at the 

door. It is a nice, comfortable house, reminding us of Claremont, 

with a pretty terrace garden in front (laid out by Lady Normanby), 

and has a very extensive view of the Park and the fine range of the 

Wicklow Mountains. We are most comfortably lodged and have 

very nice rooms. ^ ■, a . „., 

■^ luesaay^ August yth. 

We drove into Dublin — with our two ladies — in Lord Claren- 
don's carriage, the gentlemen following and without any escort. 
The people were very enthusiastic and cheered a great deal. We 
went first to the bank, where the directors received us, and then to 
the printing room, and from thence viewed the old Houses of 
Lords and Commons, for what is now the bank was the old Parlia- 
ment House. From here we drove to the Model School, where we 
were received by the Archbishop of Dublin, the Roman Catholic 
Archbishop Murray (a fine, venerable-looking old man of eighty), 
and the other gentlemen connected with the school. 

We saw the infant, the girls' and the boys' schools ; in the 
latter one class of boys was examined in mental arithmetic and in 
many very difi&cult things, and they all answered wonderfully. 
Children of all creeds are admitted, and their different doctrines are 
taught separately, if the parents wish it ; but the only teaching 
enforced is that of the Gospel truths and love and charity. This 
is truly Christian and ought to be the case everywhere. About 
looo children are educated here annually, of which 300 are trained 
as schoolmasters and mistresses. 



THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 227 

From liere we visited Trinity College, the Irisli university, 
whicli is not conducted upon so liberal a S3''stem, but into wliicli 
Roman Catholics are admitted. Dr. Todd, the secretary, and a 
very learned man, well versed in the Irish language, showed us 
some most interesting ancient manuscripts and relics, including 
St. Columba's Book (in which we wrote our names), and the 
original harp of King O'Brian, supposed to be the one from which 
the Irish arms are taken. 

The library is a very large, handsome room, like that in 
Trinity College, Cambridge. We then proceeded toward home, the 
crowd in the streets immense and so loyal. It rained a little at 
intervals. Home by a little past one. Albert went into Dublin 
again after luncheon, and I wrote and read and heard our children 
say some lessons. 

At five we proceeded to Kilmainham Hospital, very near 
here. Lord Clarendon going in the carriage with the ladies and 
m^/self, Albert and the other gentlemen riding. Sir Edward 
Blakeney and his staff and George received us. We saw the old 
pensioners, the chapel and the hall, a fine large room (where all 
the pensioners dine, as at Chelsea), and then Sir Edward's private 
apartments. 

A DRIVE AROUND DUBLIN. 

We afterward took a drive through all the principal parts of 
Dublin — College Green, where the celebrated statue of William 
the Third is to be seen ; Stephens's Green, by the Four Courts, a 
very handsome building ; and, though we were not expected, the 
crowds were in many places very great. We returned a little 
before seven. A large dinner. After dinner above two or three 
hundred people arrived, including most of the Irish nobility and 
many of the gentry ; and afterward there was a ball. 

Wednesday^ August 8th. 

At twenty minutes to one o'clock we left for Dublin, I and all 

the ladies in evening dresses, all the gentlemen in uniform. We 

drove straight to the Castle. Everything here as at St. James's 

Levee. The staircase and throne room quite like a palace. I 



228 THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 

received (on the throne) the addresses of the Lord Mayor and Cor- 
poration, the University, the Archbishop and Bishops, both Roman 
Catholic and Anglican, the Presbyterians, the non-subscribing 
Presbyterians, and the Quakers. They also presented Albert with 
addresses. Then followed a very long levee, which lasted without 
intermission till twenty minutes to six o'clock ! Two thousand 
people were presented ! 

Thursday August gih. 

There was a great and brilliant review in the Phoenix Park — 
six thousand and one hundred and sixty men, including the Con- 
stabulary. In the evening we two dined alone, and at half-past 
eight o'clock drove into Dublin for the Drawing-room, It is always 
held here of an evening. 

I should think between two and three thousand people passed 
before us, and one thousand six hundred ladies were presented. 
After it was over we walked through St Patrick's Hall and the 
other rooms, and the crowd was very great. We came back to the 
Phoenix Park at half-past twelve, the streets still densely crowded. 
The city was illuminated. 

Friday^ August loth. 

At a quarter to twelve o'clock we set out, with all our suite, for 
Carton, the Duke of Leinster's Lord and Lady Clarendon in the 
carriage with us. We went through Woodlands, a place belonging 
to Mr. White, in which there are beautiful lime trees ; and we 
passed by the " Preparatory College " for Maynooth ; and not far 
from Carton we saw a number of the Maynooth students. The 
park of Carton is fine. We arrived there at a little past one, and 
were received by the Duke and Duchess of Leinster, the Kildares, 
Mr. and Lady C, Repton, and their two sons. 

We walked out into the garden, v/here all the company were 
assembled, and the two bands playing ; it is very pretty — a sort of 
formal French garden, with rows of Irish yews. We walked around 
the garden twice, the Duke leading me, and Albert the Duchess, 
The Duke is one of the kindest and best of men. 

After luncheon we walked out and saw some of the country 
people dance jigs, which was very amusing. It is quite different 



THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 229 

from the Scotcli reel, not so animated, and the steps different, but 
very droll. The people were very poorly dressed in thick coats, 
and the women in shawls. There was one man who was a regular 
specimen of an Irishman, with his hat on one ear. Others in blue 
coats, with short breeches and blue stockings. 

There were three old and tattered pipers playing. The Irish 
pipe is very different to the Scotch ; it is very weak, and they don't 
blow into it, but merely have small bellows which they move with 
the arm. We walked around the pleasure-grounds, and after this 
got into a carriage with the Duke and Duchess, our ladies and 
gentlemen following in a large jaunting-car, and the people riding, 
running, and driving with us, but extremely well-behaved ; and 
the Duke is so kind to them, that a word from him will make them 
do anything. 

ROAD CUT IN SOLID ROCK. 

It was hot, and yet the people kept running the whole way, 
and in the thick woolen coats, which it seems they always wear 
here. We drove along the park to a spot which commands an ex- 
tensive view of the Wicklow Hills. We then went down an entirely 
new road, cut out of the solid rock, through a beautiful valley, full 
of the finest trees, growing among rocks close to a piece of water. 
We got out, and walked across a little wooden bridge to a very 
pretty little cottage, entirely ornamented with shells, etc., by the 
Duchess. 

We drove back in a jaunting-car, which is a double one, M'ith 
four wheels, and held a number of us — I sitting on one side, be- 
tween Albert and the Duke ; the Duchess, Lady Jocelyn, Lord 
Clarendon, and Lady Waterford on the opposite side ; George at the 
back, and the equerries on either side of the coachman. 

As soon as we returned to the house we took leave of our hosts 
and went back to the Phoenix Park a different way from the one we 
came, along the banks of the Liffey, through Mr. Colson's park, in 
which there were the most splendid beeches I have ever seen — 
feathering down quite to the ground ; and farther along the road 
and river were some lovely sycamore-trees. We drove through the 



230 THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 

village of Lucan, where there were fine decorations, and arches of 
bays and lanrel. 

We passed below the strawberry beds, which are really 
cnrions to see — quite high banks of them — and numbers of people 
come from Dublin to eat these strawberries; and there are rooms 
at the bottom of these banks on purpose. We were home a little 
after five. 

On Board the Victoria and Albert in Lock Ryan^ 

Saturday^ August nth. 

We arrived after a dreadfully rough though very short pass- 
age, and have taken refuge here. To return to Friday. We left 
the Phoenix Park, where we spent so pleasant a time, at six o'clock. 
Lord Clarendon and the two elder children going in the carriage 
with us, and drove with an escort to the Dublin Railway Station. 

The town was immensely crowded, and the people most en- 
thusiastic. George met us there, and we took him, the Clarendons, 
and Lord Lansdowne and our ladies into the carriage with us. We 
arrived speedily at Kingstown, where there were just as many 
people and as much enthusiasm as on the occasion of our disem- 
barkation. We stood on the paddle-box as we slowly steamed out 
of Kingstown, amid the cheers of thousands and thousands, and 
salutes from all the ships; I waved my handkerchief as a parting 
acknowledgment of their loyalty. We soon passed Howth and 
Ireland's Eye. The ship was very steady, though the sea was not 
smooth, and the night thick and rainy, and we feared a storm was 

coming on. 

Sunday .^ August 12, 

We reached Belfast Harbor at four o'clock. The wind had 
got up amazingly, and the morning was a very bad and stormy one. 
We had not had a very quiet night for sleeping, though very 
smooth. The weather got worse and worse, and blew a real gale ; 
and it was quite doubtful whether we could start as we had in- 
tended, on our return from Belfast, for Scotland. 

We saw the Mayor and General (Bainbrigg), who had come on 
board after breakfast. At a quarter past one we started with the 
ladies and gentlemen for the '^ Fairy." Though we had only two 



THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 



231 



minutes' row in the barge, there was such a swell that the getting 
in and out, and the rolling and tossing in the boat, were very dis- 
agreeable. We had to keep in the pavilion, as the squalls were so 
violent as to cover the " Fairy " with spray. We passed between 
Holywood and Carrickfergus, celebrated for the first landing of 




LONDONDERRY, IRELAND. 

William III. We reached Belfast in half an hour, and fortunately 
the sun came out. ^ ^ 

We lay close alongside the wharf, where a very fine landing-* 
place was arranged, and where thousands were assembled. Lord 
Londonderry came on board, and numerous deputations with 
addresses, including the Mayor (whom I knighted), the Protestant 
Bishop of Down and clergy, the Catholic Bishop Denvir (an excell- 



232 THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 

ent and modest man, tlie Sheriff anl Members for the county, with 
Lord Donegal (to whom the greater part of Belfast belongs). Dr. 
Henry, from the new College, and the Presbyterians (of whom 
there are a great many here). 

Lady Londonderry and her daughter also came on board. 
There was some delay in getting the gang-board down, as they had 
made much too large a one. Some planks on board were arranged, 
and we landed easily in this way. The landing-place was covered 
in, and very tastefully decorated. We got into Lord Londonderry's 
carriage with the two ladies, and Londonderry himself got on the 
rumble behind with the two sergeant footmen, Renwick and Bir- 
bage, both very tall, large men, and the three must have been far 
from comfortable. 

ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION. 

The town was beautifully decorated with fljwers, hangings, 
and very fine triumphal arches, the galleries full of people, and 
the reception very hearty. The people are a mixture of nations, 
and the female beauty had almost disappeared. 

I have dU along forgotten to say that the favorite motto written 
up on most of the arches, etc., and in every place, was, '^ Cead mile 
failte^'' which means " A hundred thousand welcomes " in Irish, 
which is very like Gaelic ; it is in fact, the language, and has 
existed in books from the earliest period, whereas Gaelic has only 
been written since half a century, though it was always spoken. 
They often called out " Cead mile failte ! " and it appears in every 
sort of shape. 

Lord Donegal rode on one side of the carriage and the General 
on the other. We stopped at the Linen Hall to see the exhibition 
of the flax and linen manufacture. Lord Devonshire and several 
other gentlemen received us there, and conducted us through the 
; different rooms, where we saw the whole process in its different 
stages. First the plant, then the flax after being steeped, then the 
spun flax ; lastly, the linen, cambric, and cloth of every sort and 
kind. It is really very interesting to see, and it is wonderful to 
what a state of perfection it has been brought. 



THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 233 

We got into our carriages again. This time Lord London- 
deny did not attempt to resume his uncomfortable position. We 
went along through the Botanic Garden, and stopped and got out 
to look at the new College which is to be opened in October, It is 
a handsome building. We passed through several of the streets, 
and returned to the place of embarkation. Belfast is a fine town, 
with some good buildings — for instance, the Bank and Exchange 
— and is considered the Liverpool and Manchester of Ireland. 

FINE BODY OF POLICE. 

I have forgotten to mention the Constabulary, who are a 
remarkably fine body of men, 13,000 in number (altogether in 
Ireland), all Irish, and chiefly Roman Catholics; and not one of 
whom, during the trying times last year, fraternized with the 
rebel. 

We left amid immense cheering, and reached the "Victoria 
and Albert " at half-past six. It was blowing as hard as ever, and 
the getting in and out was as disagreeable as before. We decided 
on spending the night where we were, unless the wind should drop 
by three or four o'clock in the morning. Many bonfires were 
lighted on the surrounding hills and coasts. 

Sunday August 12th. 

The weather no better, and as there seemed no hope of its im- 
provement, we decided on starting at two o'clock, and proceeding 
either to Loch Ryan or Lamlash. Lord Adolphus read the service 
at half-past ten, at which the two eldest children were also 
present. 

I intend to create Bertie " Karl of Dublin," as a compliment 

to the town and country ; he has no Irish title, though he is born 

with several Scotch ones (belonging to the heirs to the Scotch 

(throne, and which we have inherited from Tames VI. of Scotland 

and I. of England) ; and this was one of my father's titles. 

The preparations on deck for the voyage were not encourag- 
ing ; the boats hoisted up, the accommodation ladders drawn quite 
close up, every piece of carpet removed, and everything covered ; 
and, indeed, my worst fears were realized. We started at two, and 



234 THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 

I went below and lay down sliortly after, and directly we got out 
of the harbor the yacht began rolling for the first three-quarters 
of an hour in a way which was dreadful, and there were two rolls 
when the waves broke over the ship, which I shall never forget. 

I got gradually better, and at five we entered Loch R3^an, truly 
thankful to be at the end of our voyage. Albert came down to me, 
and then I went up on deck, and he told me how awful it had been 
The first great wave which came over the ship threw everybody 
down in every direction. Poor little Afiie (Prince Alfred) was 
thrown down and sent rolling over the deck, and was drenched, for 
the deck was swimming with water. 

DRIVEN BY WAVES TO ANCHORAGE. 

Albert told me it was quite frightful to see the enormous 
waves rising like a wall above the sides of the ship. We did not 
anchor so high up in Loch Ryan, as we had done two years ago, 
but it was a very safe, quiet anchorage, and we were very glad to 
be there. Albert went on shore. 

Monday^ August jjth. 

We started at four o'clock in the morning, and the yacht rolled 
a little, but the motion was an easy one. Vv^'e were in the Clyde 
by breakfast-tinie, but the day was very bad, constant squalls 
hiding the scenery. We left Greenock to our left, and proceeded 
a little way up Loch Goil, which opens into Loch Long, and is 
very fine ; it seems extraordinary to have such deep water in a 
narrow loch, and so immediately below the mountains, which are 
very rocky. 

We turned back and went up Loch Long, which I remembered 
so well, and which is so beautiful. We let go the anchor at Arro- 
char, the head of the lake, intending to land and proceed to Loch 
Lomond, where a steamer was waiting for us ; but it poured withi 
rain most hopelessly. We waited an hour in vain, and decided on 
stopping until after luncheon, and making the attempt at three 
o'clock. 

We lunched and stepped into the boat, as it had cleared a 
little; but just then it began pouring again more violently than 



THE QUEEN'S FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND. 23-5 

before, and we put back much disappoiuted ; but Albert persevered, 
and he went off with Mr. Anson, Sir James Clark, and Captain 
Robinson almost immediately afterward. Just then it cleared, 
and I felt so vexed that we had not gone ; but there have been 
some terrible showers since. We left Arrochar a little before four, 
Loch Long looking beautiful as we returned. 

Perth ^ Tuesday^ August 14th. 

We anchored yesterday in Roseneath Bay, close to Roseneath 
— a very pretty spot, and looking towards the mountains which 
you see in Loch Goil. One of them is called " The Duke of 
Argyll's Bowling-green." Albert only returned soon after eight 
o'clock, having been able to see a good deal of Loch Lomond, and 
even Rob Roy's Cave, in spite of heavy showers. 

Captain Beeche}^ (who was with us during the whole voyage in 
'47, and again the whole of this one to pilot us), Captain Crispin, 
and Captain Robinson (who met us this morning and piloted 
Albert in Loch Lomond, and did the same for us in '47), dined with 
us also, and we had much interesting conversation about the forma- 
tion of glaciers, etc., in all of which Captain Beechey (who is a 
very intelligent man, and who has been all over the world) took 
part. He was with Sir Edward Parry at the North Pole, and told 
us that they had not seen daylight for four months. They heaped 
up snow over the ship and covered it in with boards to keep the 
cold off. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Remarkable Fortitude of the Widowed Monarch. 

QUEEN Victoria, kneeling at the death-bed of her " dear lord 
at:vd master," as she ever called the Prince Consort, will re- 
main one of the most pathetic scenes in the history of the world. 
Queen she remained to the end, in spite of her woman's anguish. 

When the last sigh was heaved, and the spirit of her beloved 
had fled, she gently loosed the hand which she had held as he 
passed through the valley of the shadow of death, saw the lids 
closed over the eyes which to the last had turned their love-light 
upon her, rose from the bedside, thanked the physicians for their 
skill and attention, spoke some soothing words to her orphaned 
children, sobbing around the bed, and walking from the room calm 
and erect, sought the solitude of her chamber, and went through 
her Gethsemane alone. 

GREAT BELL TOLLS THE SAD TIDINGS. 

Away in the city the great bell of St. Paul's tolled the sad 
tidings through the midnight air, and next morning — Sunday — it 
seemed that a pall had fallen over the land, and there was scarce a 
dry eye in the churches when the Prince Consort's name was sig- 
nificantly omitted from the Litany, and the ministers impressively 
paused in the prayer for " the fatherless children and widows, and 
all that are desolate and oppressed." 

To many, indeed, this was the first intimation of the great loss 
which the monarch and the country had snstained. As the awe- 
struck worshippers dispersed they gathered in little knots, and 
spoke in whispers of the grief-stricken wife at Royal Windsor, 
recalled her joy-days, when, gay as a lark, she had entered the 
Abbey on her coronation day, or walked from the altar a proud and 
happy bride, and again had hung with a mother's love over the 
cradle of her little ones ; and now, in the heyday of life and hap- 
230 



REMARKABLE FORTITUDE OF THE WIDOWED MOTHER. 237 

piness she was a widowed Queen, more desolate by reason of her 
exalted position than any woman in the land, similarly bereft. 

That angel of comfort, Princess Alice, whose lovely character 
al' the world revered, was the support of her mother in this time 
of sorrow. She was aided in her ministrations by Lady Augusta 
Bruce (afterwards the wife of Dean Stanley), who had been the 
beloved friend and attendant of the Duchess of Kent in her last 
years ; and by that other dear friend of the Queen, the Duchess of 
Sutherland, herself but lately a widow, who was speedily sum- 
moned by her royal mistress to stay with her at this time of be 
reavement. Anxious days and nights were passed by these devoted 
ladies in the Queen's room, for the reaction from the enforced res- 
traint had been so great that Her Majesty was completely pros- 
trated, and her pulse became so weak at one time that death 
appeared imminent. 

"DAUGHTER OF A LINE OF KINGS." 

It is scarcely realized to-day how near the country was to a 
double tragedy, and when the tidings were flashed through the land 
that at last the Queen had obtained some hours' sleep it seemed 
like the joy-bells succeeding the funeral peal. The feelings of the 
people were beautifully expressed by Mrs. Crosland in her poem : 

" Sleep, for the night is round thee spread. 
Thou daughter of a line of kings ; 
Sleep, widowed Queen, while angels' wings 
Make canopy above thy head ! 

Sleep, while a million prayers rise up 
To Him who knew all earthly sorrow, 
That day by day each soft to-morrow 

May melt the bitter from thy cup." 

When the first agony of her grief was over, the Queen sum- 
moned her children around her, and told them that, though she felt 
crushed by her loss, she knew what her position demanded, and 
asked them to help her in fulfilling her duty to the country and to 



238 REMARKABLE EORTlTUDE OF THE WIDOWED MONARCH. 

them. lyittle Prince Leopold, the delicate one of the Queen's 
bairns, who was at this time at Cannes for his health, when told 
that his father was dead, cried piteously, " Do take me to my mam- 
ma ;" and that old-fashioned little tot, Baby Beatrice, would climb 
on her mother's knee to look at " mamma's sad cap." 

Fearing the worst consequences should Her Majesty have 
another relapse, the physicians were urgent that she should leave 
Windsor before the funeral took place ; but the Queen cried bitterly 
at the suggestion, saying that her subjects never left their homes 
or the remains of their dear ones at such times, and why should 
she. It was only when Princess Alice represented to her that the 
younger children might suffer if they remained in the fever-tainted 
Castle that she consented to go with them to Osborne. Before 
leaving she drove to Frogmore, where only ten months before she 
had laid to rest her devoted mother, and walking round the gardens 
on the arm of Princess Alice, chose a bright sunny spot to bury 
her dead. 

The same feeling which led the Queen to create homes of her 
own, apart from the royal palaces, prompted her to have a family 
burying-place. With a truly democratic spirit. Her Majesty pre- 
served her own individuality, and declined to be considered a mere 
royalty, whose affairs are to be regulated by the State, and whose 
body must lie in a cold and dreary royal vault, along with kings 
and queens for whom she cares nothing at all. 

MAUSOLEUM FOR THE PRINCE. 

The funeral of the Prince Consort took place, with honors 
befitting so great and good a Prince, on the 23d of December, 1861, 
the cofiS.n being temporarily placed at the entrance to St. George's 
Chapel, Windsor, until the beautiful mausoleum had been built at 
I Frogmore ; upon the lid were laid wreaths of green moss and vio- 
lets, made by the Queen and Princess Alice. The unmistakable 
reality of the sorrow at the funeral was very striking, and was 
manifested, not only by the heart-broken sobs of the young Princes, 
but by the tears of veteran statesmen and ambassadors mingling 
with those who weie of royal kin. Though there can be no doubt 



REMARKABLE FORTITUDE OF THE WIDOWED MONARCH. 239 

that the Prince had won for himself a place in the hearts of those 
present, one feels that the tears flowed as much in sympathy for 
her who sorrowed as for him who was gone. 

In reading the letters and memoirs of courtiers of this period, 
it is evident that they felt that the Queen had well-nigh received 
her death-blow ; all speak of her calm, pathetic sorrow being heart- 
breaking to witness. Amongst others, Lord Shaftesbury writes at 
this time : " The desolation of the Qaeen's heart and life, the death- 
blow to her happiness on earth ! God in his mercy sustain and 
comfort ! The disruption of domestic existence, unprecedented in 
royal history, the painful withdrawal of a prop, the removal of a 
counsellor, a friend in all public and private affairs, the sorrows 
she has, the troubles that await her — all rend my heart as though 
the suffering were my own." 

Her Majesty spent the first three months of her widowhood in 
absolute retirement at Osborne, where she was greatly comforted 
by her beloved half-sister, the Princess Hohenlohe, who had hast- 
ened from Germany to her side. The Princess told Dean Stanley 
that the Queen found " her only comfort in the belief that her hus- 
band's spirit was close beside her — for he had promised her that it 
should be so ;" and she further related that the Queen would go 
each morning to visit the cows on the Prince's model farm, because 
he used to do it, and she fancied the gentle creatures would miss him. 

MORTALITY AMONG ROYALTY. 

King Leopold of Belgium, ever Her Majesty's support and 
counsellor, as he had been that of her widowed mother, was also 
at Osborne at this time ; but even with near and trusted relations 
certain reserve and etiquette had to be observed by the Queen, and 
one can understand the bitterness of her cry, " There is no one 
left to call me ' Victoria ' now." Mother and husband had both 
been taken within a year, and the old royal family, those elderly 
aunts and uncles who had been about her in her youth, were pass- 
ing one by one into the silent land. 

The Prince of Wales was not of an age to take any responsi- 
ble position, and shortly after his father's death set out, in accord- 



240 REMARKABLE FORTITUDE OF THE WIDOWED MONARCH 

ance with the Prince Consort's plans, whicH the Queen would not 
put on one side, for a prolonged tour in the Bast, accompanied b}^ 
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (Dean of Westminster). The Queen's 
eldest daughter was bound by the ties of her German home, and it 
was therefore upon Princess Alice that everything devolved during 
those first terrible weeks. 

The nation has never forgot the tact and judgment in dealing 
with Ministers and officials, in the Queen's place, shown by this 
young girl of eighteen, and her remarkable conduct called forth a 
special article in the Tijnes. 

The advocates of modern funeral reform might complain that 
Her Majesty was too punctilious in her outward signs of mourn- 
ing ; but, as she once playfully said to Lord Melbourne in her 
young days, " What is the use of being a Queen if you cannot do 
as you like?" It is said that she refused to sign a Commission 
because the paper was not bordered with black ; and we know that 
for at least eight years after the Prince Consort's death the royal 
servants wore a band of crape upon the left arm, while in her own 
attire Her Majesty has never, throughout the succeeding years of 
her widowhood, worn any but mourning colors. 

APARTMENTS REMAIN AS THEY WERE. 

So complete was her isolation during her retirement at Os- 
borne that she dined alone save for one of the royal children, who 
took it in turns to be with her, the other members of the family 
and the visitors, even her Uncle Leopold, dining separately. At 
her command the late Princes' apartments at Windsor, Osborne and 
Balmoral were closed, and remain to-day exactly as they were at 
his death. His favorite horse, Guy Mannering, was turned out to 
a life of ease in Bushey Park, the saddle never again being placed 
upon his back ; while the memory of his favorite dog. Bos, which 
predeceased him, was preserved on the Prince's tomb, where the 
faithful grayhound is sculptured at his master's feet. 

This dog accompanied the Prince when he came to be mar- 
ried; and his brother, Duke Brnest, tells the story that as he and 
Prince Albert passed through a little German town on their way to 



REMARKABLE FORTITUDE OF THE WIDOWED MONARCH. 241 

England in 1839, ^^^ country people came out to see them, and 
Prince Albert for a " lark " put his little black greyhound up at 
the carriage window for the people to stare at, while he and his 
brother, convulsed with laughter, crouched down in the bottom of 
the carriage out of sight. 

Not only were the Prince's rooms preserved in the state in 
which he left them — a custom which the Queen follows with all 
her nearest departed relatives — but her own boudoir at Windsor 
Castle is kept in the same state to-day as it was when the Prince 
Consort died. On the door is inscribed, " Kvery article in this 
room my lamented husband selected for me in the twenty -fourth 
year of my reign." In this room the Queen's bridal wreath and 
the first bouquet which the Prince presented to her lie withered in 
a glass case. 

THE QUEEN AND THE POOR ITALIAN. 

She wasted no time in idle tears, and a simple little incident 
occurred at the time which showed that some of Her Majesty's old 
interest in life was returning. When out driving in the neighbor- 
hood of Windsor one afternoon, she was attracted by a poor Italian 
vendor of images, and ordering the carriage to be stopped, aston- 
ished the man by buying up a large portion of his stock-in-trade ; 
but still greater must have been his surprise when it transpired 
that neither the Queen nor her suit had sufficient cash to pay for 
the purchases. However, matters were eventually arranged to the 
perfect satisfaction of the man with the images, who doubtless ever 
afterwards dubbed himself " By Appointment." 

Nowhere had the Queen such a sense of quiet and homeliness 
as at Balmoral, where, amongst her faithful Highlanders she lived 
on terms of mutual aid and sympathy which recall the Scotch laird 
among his clansmen, and it would seem that, like Sir Walter Scott, 
she could not live a year without a sight of the heather. Up to 
the time of her bereavement she had only stayed there in the 
autumn, when the Prince was deer-stalking; but the year after his 
death she began the custom, afterward continued, of spending her 
own birthday in May, and that of the Prince in August, in the 

16 



242 REMARKABLE FORriTUDE OF THE/VVIDOvVED MONARCH. 

Highland home endeared to her by so many memories of the 
dead. 

The first visit paid by the Queen when she went there in the 
spring of 1862 was to an old cottager, who like herself had lately lost 
her husband, and the two widows, so differently placed in life, 
mingled their tears together. The old woman apologized for in- 
idulging her grief; but the Queen told her that she " was so thank- 
ful to cry with some one who knew exactly how she felt." Her 
Majesty was always a Scotchwoman when she was at her High- 
land home, and during this time of sorrow, in characteristic Scotch 
fashion, the first thing she did was to send for the minister. 

RELIGIOUS GUIDE AND COMFORTER. 

It was to the Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod that she appealed for 
religious guidance, and deeply grateful was she for his faithful 
counsel. When he pointed out to her the duty of resignation to 
the divine Will, she received his admonition very sweetly, and sent 
him a touching letter of thanks. Dr. Macleod afterward wrote : 
" I am never tempted to conceal any conviction from the Queen, 
for I feel she sympathizes with what is true, and likes the speaker 
to utter the truth exactly as he believes it." 

Her Majesty was first attracted by Dr. Macleod's preaching in 
1854, when he was officiating at Crathie Church, and the refer- 
ences in his prayer to herself and her children gave her, as she 
says, a "lump in her throat." Later in the day Her Majesty and 
Prince Albert were taking their usual evening stroll, when they 
encountered the minister sitting on a block of granite in quiet 
meditation. The Queen at once advanced towards him and 
thanked him for his sermon, and the conversation which followed 
^was the beginning of a friendship which ended only with Dr. 
Macleod's death. 

He was constantly at Balmoral during the Queen's early 
widowhood ; in fact, it would seem that Her Majesty could hardly 
get on without him. She asked not only his spiritual guidance, 
but made him her confidant in matters relating to the training of 
her children, as she perpetually felt the responsibility of being a 



REMARKABLE FORTITUDE OF THE WIDOWED MONARCH. 243 

widow witli a large family. " No one," she said, " ever reassured 
and comforted me about my children like Dr. Macleod." At times 
he turned entertainer for Her Majesty, and would read Burns and 
Scott to her as she sat spinning. In this homely occupation the 
Queen was proficient, having taken her first lesson from an old 
woman at Balmoral, who for many years had in her possession 
Tiax spun by Her Majesty, until it was begged away thread by 
thread by enterprising tourists. 

The Queen had an interesting collection of spinning-wheels, 
and sent specimens of her work to exhibitions. It is interesting 
to find from Dr. Macleod that her favorite poem from Burns was, 
" A man's a man for a' that." This, however, is but further evi- 
dence of Her Majesty's democratic sentiments, which were very 
evident, notwithstanding her imperial spirit, which brooks no 
encroachment upon her authority as a constitutional sovereign. 

STORY OF AN OLD SCOTCH WOMAN. 

In the course of his talks with the Queen, Dr. Macleod told 
her of an old Scotchwoman who had lost her husband and several 
children, and had had many sorrows, but when asked how she 
could bear them said : " When he was taen, it made sic a hole in 
my heart that a' other sorrows Rang lightly through." " So will 
it ever be with me," was the Queen's remark when she heard the 
story. One imagines that there was something of the feeling that 
one loss more could make her loneliness little greater, in the 
Queen's consent to part with her beloved daughter Princess Alice, 
who had been betrothed to Prince Louis of Hesse before her 
father's death, and whose marriage and removal to Germany took 
place in the July following. 

Painful indeed was the contrast between the marriages of the 
Queen's two eldest daughters : the one a joyous repetition of the 
gay ceremonies which attended her own bridal, and the second 
performed privately at Osborne in a scene of partial mourning, 
when everybody cried, even to the Archbishop. The sweet young 
Princess, whom her father called " the beauty of the family," 
looked pathetically lovely in her dress of crystalline silk, trimmed 



244 REMARKABLE FORTITUDE OF THE WIDOWED MONARCH. 

with Honiton flounces made from a design chosen by the Prince 
Consort. She was given away by her paternal uncle, Duke Ernest 
of Coberg, the Queen sitting in deep mourning in the background 
of the bridal party. There was no wedding breakfast, but after 
the ceremony the young couple lunched privately with the Queen 
and " Baby," as Princess Beatrice was yet called. This was indeed 
the " sad marriage " in the royal family. 

During the first years of her widowhood the Queen could not 
bear to listen to music, still less to take part in its performance, 
which had hitherto been such a delight to her ; neither did she feel 
able to amuse herself with her favorite pastime of sketching. Mr. 
Leitch, the artist, who was drawing-master to the Queen and the 
royal family for twenty -two years, describes in a letter to his mother 
the sadly altered life at Balmoral at this period. 

THE WHOLE PLACE CHANGED. 

He writes : " The Queen is still the kind, good, gracious lady 
that she always was ; but I need hardl}^ to tell you that there is a 
change. Indeed, the whole place is changed. Everything very 
quiet and still. How different from my first visit here — the joyous 
bustle in the morning when the Prince went out ; the Highland 
ponies and the dogs ; the gillies and the pipers coming home ; the 
Queen and her ladies going out to meet them ; the merry time after- 
wards ; the torchlight sword dances on the green, and the servants' 
ball closing." 

In the following autumn Her Majesty was persuaded to re- 
sume sketching, and Mr. Leitch gave a graphic account of an out- 
door drawing-party. The Queen set out on her Highland pony 
led by John Brown, Lady Jane Churchill, one of the ladies-in- 
waiting to whom the Queen was specially attached during this 
period of loneliness, walking alongside the pony, the Princess 
Louise and Mr. Leitch trudging along the road after them. When 
the place for sketching was reached, the Queen seated herself in 
the middle of the country road, with a rough stone from the Dee 
as a rest for her paint-box. Lady Churchill holding an umbrella 
to shade the Queen's eyes. 



REMARKABLE FORTITUDE OF THE WIDOWED MONARCH. 24 -j 

Princess Louise sat on a stone a little farther away, while Mr. 
Leitch attended the party as instructor, and John Brown looked 
after the pony. The country folk stared in astonishment as they 
passed by, and Her Majesty heartily enjoyed the fun, and seemed 
to revive a little of her lost animation. She sketched for two 
hours, and then remarked how quickly time passed when she was 
.drawing, and expressed her determination to do more of it. So in 
her second loneliness the Queen found consolation in the use of 
pencil and brush, as she had done in her rather dull and monot- 
onous childhood. 

At the marriage of the Prince of Wales wdth the Princess Alex- 
andra of Denmark in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on the loth 
of March, 1863, the Queen sat apart in her grief, unable to mingle 
in the gay festivity. It was after the birth of a son to the young 
couple in January, 1864, that she gave the first sign of returning 
interest in public life, and commanded that in honor of the event 
her birthday in the succeeding May should be celebrated in London 
with the trooping of the colors and general festivities, which had 
been suspended since the death of the Prince Consort. 

NOT READY FOR SOCIETY. 

The people were, however, disappointed in the hope that Her 
Majesty was going to resume her old place in society, and indeed 
the charming manner in which her son's wife was taking her place 
seemed to render it unnecessary, especially when the Queen was 
already overburdened with governmental work, the care of her 
younger children, and the management of her vast estates. 

• From glimpses one gets into Her Majesty's home life of this 
period, it would seem that '' Baby " Beatrice was a very amusing 
little person. She was fond of experimenting in the cooking line, 
and having manufactured some confectionery, which appears to 
have been so fearfully and wonderfully made that her friends de- 
clined to taste it, she said philosophically, " Never mind ; I will 
give it to the donkey, as Dean Stanley is not here," the little Prin- 
cess being aware that the Dean had neither taste nor smell, and 
was therefore an undiscriminating person regarding pasties. The 



246 REMARKABLE FORTITUDE OF THE WIDOWED MONARCH. 

Princess Louise had the reputation of being the best cook among 
the royal children, and we find her coming to the rescue on one of 
the Queen's Highland expeditions, when the luggage had broken 
down on the way, and making her mother some delicious coffee. 

The story comes from Balmoral that Princesses Helena and 
Louise called one day, as was customary for them, to ask one of 
the cottage children to come and play with them ; the mother 
replied that her daughter must finish baking some oatcakes first. 
" Oh, we'll help," volunteered the Princess Louise, and not being 
able to lay her hands on the cutter, she seized the teapot lid in her 
anxiety to get the business over, and succeeded in getting the un- 
fortunate cakes into such a sticky, misshapen mess that the guid 
wife promptly despatched her daughter with her over-officious visi- 
tors and finished the baking herself. 

OLD IRISH APPLE WOMAN. 

An amusing incident is told of the Queen's third son, Prince 
Arthur, when he was at the Ranger's Lodge, Blackheath, pursuing 
his military studies. His sister's former governess, Miss Hillyard, 
was staying for her health in the neighborhood, and each morning 
he was in the habit of walking to her house to inquire how she was, 
and in doing so passed by the apple-stall of an old Irishwoman, 
named Kitty, who from his cadet's dress took him for a private in 
the artillery. 

One day she asked a policeman if he could tell her who " that 
'tillery chap " was that passed every day, adding, " He looks such 
a graceful, nice young man, that I'm sorry in my heart to see him 
as he is, for I'm shure he comes of dacent people, he looks so gen- 
teel, and I be always thinking, shure, if his people is anyway well 
off, isn't it a wonder they don't buy him out." One can imagine 
old Kitty's eloquence when she was informed that he was the 
Queen's son. 

In February, 1866, Her Majesty emerged from her long seclu- 
sion to open Parliament in person, and the occasion was one of 
great splendor and interest, remarkable for the numerous assemb- 
lage of ladies present in the House of Lords ; in fact, the array of 



REMARKABLE FORTITUDE OF THE WIDOWED MONARCH. 24: 



peeresses filling the back rows of seats behind the peers, as well as 

the side galleries and the great gallerj^, have 
led a stranger to suppose that women had at 
length been admitted to Parliament. At noon 
the streets recalled the palmy days of the 
Queen's wedded life ; crowds of spectators 
lined the route to Westminster, and a long- 

o 

line of carriages filled with ladies in full- 
dress stretched from Pall Mall to the Peers' 
entrance. 

Before the appearance of Her Majesty, 
the Princess of Wales, looking lovely in a 
white tulle dress trimmed with black lace, 
was conducted to a seat on the woolsack, 
facing the throne, whereon was spread the 
State robes which the Queen had no heart to 
wear. It was a moment of thrilling and pathetic 



i 



THB mac:b. 



interest when Her Majesty entered, dressed in a 
robe of deep violet velvet, trimmed with ermine, 
and wearing a white lace cap, a la Marie Stuart, 
with a gauze veil flov/ing behind ; her dress, in- 
deed, gave her a remarkable likeness to the un- 
fortunate Queen of Scots. 

She was accompanied by the Princesses 
Helena and Louise, dressed in half-mourning cos- 
tumes, and escorted to her seat by the Prince of 
Wales. She sat with downcast eyes, looking 
very grave and sad, while the speech from the 
throne, which in happier days had been delivered 
by her with such rare elocutionary power, was 
read by the Lord Chamberlain. One feels that 
the occasion was a little trying for Princess 
Helena, as the formal announcement was made 
of her approaching marriage with PririCe Chris- 
tian of Schleswig-Holstein. 

In the March following the Oneeu revienved 



248 REMARKABLE FORTITUDE OF THE WIDOWED MONARCH. 

tlie troops at Aldershot, and both this and the opening of Parliament 
by her gave the greatest pleasure, not only to the nation, but to 
the Queen's own family, and Princess Alice wrote to tell her mother 
how happy she was that she had made " the great effort." " How 
trying," she says, " the visit to Aldershot must have been ; but it 
is so wise and kind of you to go. I cannot think of it without 
tears in my eyes. Formerly that was one of the greatest pleasures 
of my girlhood, and you and darling papa looked so handsome 
together." 

During the same year the Queen attended two weddings, that 
of the Princess Mary of Cambridge and the Duke of Teck, which 
took place at Kew on the 12th of June, 1866, and that of the 
Princess Helena and Prince Christian, which was celebrated at 
Windsor on the following 5th of July, the Queen giving away the 
bride. At the close of this year the growing discontent of the peo- 
ple that Her Majesty showed no disposition to resume her old 
place in Court functions was made the occasion of public demon- 
stration at a meeting at St. James's Hall, in support of the enfran- 
chisement of the working classes, when Mr. Ayrton, M.P., con- 
demned the Queen's retirement in strong terms. 

A WARM DEFENCE OF HER MAJESTY. 

This brought John Bright to his feet, who warmly vindicated 
Her Majesty from Mr. Ayrton's charge that she had neglected her 
duty to society. As the great orator ceased, a remarkable ova- 
tion took place, the entire audience rising and singing " God Save 
the Queen " with every demonstration of love and loyalty. When 
two years later John Bright was submitted to Her Majesty 
for a seat in Mr. Gladstone's Cabinet, she expressed her pleasure, 
saying that she was under the greatest obligation to him for the 
many kind words he had spoken of her, and despatched a messen- 
ger to tell Mr. Bright that if it was more agreeable to his feelings 
as a Quaker to omit the ceremony of kneeling and kissing her 
hands, he was at liberty to do so, of which permission Mr. Bright 
availed himself. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Victoria, Queen and Empress. 

CAR away in sunny India was enacted, on the ist of January, 
^ 1877, a scene the most brilliant and unique of any connected 
with the glorious reign of Victoria. At the Imperial Camp, outside 
the walls of Delhi, where the mutiny had raged the fiercest, Her 
Majesty was proclaimed Empress of India. On a throne of Oriental 
splendor, above which was the portrait of the Empress, sat Lord 
Lytton, her Viceroy ; the Governors, Lieutenants, State officials 
and the Maharajahs, Rajahs, Nabobs and Princes, with their glit- 
tering retinues grouped around him. 

Behind rose the vast amphitheatre, filled with foreign ambas- 
sadors and notables, around was the concourse of spectators and a 
brilliant array of fifteen thousand troops, while to complete the 
gorgeous scene the whole assemblage was surrounded by an un- 
broken chain of elephants decked with gay trappings. 

GIFT FROM THE EMPRESS. 

After the Proclamation had been made with all the pomp of 
heraldry, the Viceroy presented to each of the feudatory Princes 
the Empress's gift, a magnificent standard, made after a design 
chosen by Her Majesty. The standards were ornamented with the 
sacred water lily of India, spreading palms of the East, and the 
rose of England, it being the desire of the Empress to indicate that 
as the rose and the lily intertwined beneath the spreading palm, so 
was the welfare of India to become one with that of her older domin- 
ions; and the motto, "Heaven's light our guide," illustrated the 
spirit in which she desired to govern the enormous empire of which 
she ever fondly speaks as " a bright jewel in her crown." 

Most noticeable in the brilliant gathering was the Begum of 
Bhopal, a lady Knight of the Most Noble Order of Queen Victoria. 
There was nothing to be seen of the lady sa\e a bundle of floating 

249 



250 VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 

azure silk, which indicated that she was inside, and upon the place 
where the left shoulder was supposed to be was emblazoned the 
shield of the Star of India. Much cheap wit was expended after 
Her Majesty's accession on the rise of the " royal sex," and it was 
said that the }■ oung Queen intended to establish an Order of Female 
Knighthood. The prophecy of the scoffer seemed to have been 
more than fulfilled in the figure of this Hindoo lady wearing the 
Order of the Star of India. Though she was not valiant enough 
to show her face, yet her presence was a good omen for that eman- 
cipation of the women of her country from the seclusion of the 
Zenana which is fittingly distinguishing the reign of the British 
Empress. 

On the day of the Proclamation at Delhi, the Queen conferred 
the Grand Cross of India upon the Duke of Con naught, and when 
in 1879 she became a great-grandmother, by the birth of a daughter 
to the Princess of Saxe-Meiningen (Princess Charlotte of Prussia), 
she celebrated her ancient dignity by investing twelve noble ladies 
of her Court with the Imperial Order of the Crown of India. 

INTEREST IN HINDOO WOMEN. 

The keenest interest was always shown by the Queen in the 
condition of Hindoo women. It was with heartfelt thankfulness 
that she saw the barbarous suttee abolished, and it was her influ- 
ence which inspired the rapid spread of Zenana work. In July, 
1 88 1, she received at Windsor Miss Bielby, a medical missionary 
from India; and after listening to her account of the sufferings of 
Hindoo women, in time of illness, for need of doctors, the Queen 
turned to her ladies and said, " We had no idea that things were as 
bad as this." Miss Beilby then took from a locket which she wore 
around her neck a folded piece of paper containing a message to 
Her Majesty from the Maharanee of Poonah. 

'' The women of India suffer when they are sick," was the 
burden of the dark-eyed Queen's appeal. The Empress returned 
her a message of sympathy and help, and to the women of our 
land the Queen said, " We desire it to be generally known that we 
sympathise with every effort made to relieve the suffering state of 



VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 251 

tlie women of India ;" and when Lord Dnfferin went out as Gov- 
ernor-General, slie commissioned Lady Dnfferin to establish a 
permanent fund for providing qualified women doctors for work in 
India. Her Majesty continued to take the greatest interest in this 
work, and was in constant communication with the Viceroy's wife 
regarding its further organization and extension. 

No opportunity was lost by Her Majesty to show her interest 
in her Indian Bmpire, and doubtless had the Prince Consort been 
spared she would have made a progress through the country. This 
was done in her stead by the Prince of V/ales in 1875-6, and it was 
while he was making the tour that Lord Beaconsfield introduced the 
Royal Titles Bill into Parliament, conferring upon the Queen the 
title of Empress of India, a distinction regarded by John Bull as 
superfluous to a Crown the most distinguished in the world ; but 
Her Majesty personally desired it, not, as gossip af&rmed, because 
of the advent at Court of her second son's imperial bride, but as a 
means of binding her Indian subjects to her in a closer manner. 

EXHIBITS FROM INDIA. 

It is said that she showed more interest in the Indian Court 
of the Colonial Exhibition, 1886, than in any other, and at each of 
her visits chatted freely with the native workmen. When the 
Indian delegates to the Exhibition first saw their Empress, a 
homely-looking lady in a black silk gown, they expressed disap- 
pointment, having expected to see her decked out in the pomp and 
circumstance of a mighty potentate. 

"But, after all," said they, "what a great power the Queen 
must wield when she can command such an array of illustrious 
personages to attend upon her, while she appears as the most 
simple of all the Court." Of late years Her Majesty had Indian 
servants in native dress as personal attendants ; she Vv^as also an 
assiduous student of Hindustani, being able to speak and write in 
that language; and her favorite State jewel was the priceless 
Koh-i-noor, about which hangs a tale. 

When it came into the possession of the East India Company, 
in 1850, it was handed at a Board meeting to John Lawrence 



252 VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 

(afterwards Lord Lawrence, the Viceroy) for safe keeping. Tlie 
precious diamond was laid amongst folds of linen in a small box, 
and Lord Lawrence slipped it into his waistcoat pocket, and forgot 
all about it until some days later it was suggested that he should 
forward it to the Queen. One can imagine his consternation when 
he rushed to his house to see if it was to be found. 

A REMARKABLE BIT OF GLASS. 

" Have you seen a small box in one of my waistcoat pockets?" 
he asked breathlessly of his servant. " Yes, sahib," was the reply. 
"I found it, and put it in one of your boxes.'' "Bring it here and 
open it, and see what it contains," said his master. "There is 
nothing in it, sahib, but a bit of glass," the man replied in wonder- 
ment. The "bit of glass" was in due course despatched to the 
Queen, whose crown it was to adorn ; but she preferred to wear it 
on occasions as a magnificent brooch in the center of her bodice. 
The cutting of the diamond was personally superintended by the 
Prince Consort. It is always kept at Windsor, a facsimile being in 
the royal crown at the Tower. 

An interesting event in the Queen's family circle took place in 
February, 1871, when at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, she gave 
away her clever, handsome daughter Princess Louise to the heir 
of the Ar gyles. The Queen constantly testified her regard for the 
old Scottish nobility by visiting their castles. She stayed for the 
first time as the guest of the Duke of Argyle at Inverary in 1847, 
and this interesting note about her future son-in-law occurs in her 
"Journal " : '' The pipers walked before the carriage, and the High- 
landers on either side as we approached the house. Outside stood 
the Marquis of Lome, just two years old, a dear, white, fat little 
fellow with reddish hair, but very delicate features, like both his 
father and mother; he is such a merry, independent little child." 

In the years which followed, Her Majesty had other oppor- 
tunities for observing Lord Lome ; but before she consented to the 
betrothal of her daughter she consulted " the minister," and was 
assured by Dr. Macleod that he had a high opinion of the young 
Marquis. A gentleman who saw the festivities at the home-coming 



VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRRSS. 25:1 

of the newly-wedded pair to Inverary lias told the present writer 
that the bride's dancing at the Tenants' Ball made qnite a sen- 
sation — she "footed it" in the reels and strathspeys in a way 
which did credit to the wife of a Highland chief. 

Three years later came the marriage of Prince Alfred to the 
Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, at St. Petersburg, which w^as the 
first and only wedding in her family at which the Queen was not 
present ; but she commissioned her dear friends Dean Stanley and 
his wife. Lady Augusta, to convey her maternal greetings and 
little private gifts to the bride, and was most anxious that her 
Russian daughter-in-law should wear myrtle in her bridal attire. 
Myrtle is the German marriage emblem, and Her Majesty was 
most particular that all the royal brides shall wear it along 
with their orange blossoms. 

MANY ROYAL DEATHS. 

During this period the hand of death was laid on many of the 
Queen's loved ones. Her uncle Ivcopold, good old Baron Stock- 
mar, and her beloved half-sister the Princess Hohenlohe, had all 
passed awa}^, and the life of her eldest son had hung by a thread 
in December, 1871, but the greatest loss of all came with the death 
of Princess Alice. The pathetic story of the Princess's devoted 
nursing of her husband and little ones when they were attacked 
with diphtheria at Darmstadt is well remembered, and when she 
succumbed to the disease herself it was felt that she would never 
rally. Princess Christian says that her sister Alice had never 
really recovered from the fearful shock she received in 1873, when 
her little boy Fritz fell from a top window, and was dashed to the 
ground before the eyes of his agonized mother. 

Visits to the Queen at Osborne or Balmoral would revive her 
spirits and bring back the roses to her cheeks, but only for a time. 
The end came on the anniversary of her father's death, the fatal 
14th of December, 1878. Almost the last thing she did was to 
read a letter from her mother, which Sir William Jenner, who had 
been dispatched by the Queen, had brought. It seemed as though 
her spirit had been lingering for this message from home, and lay- 



254 VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 

ing it beside her she said, " Now I will fall asleep ;" but it was the 
sleep of death upon which she entered. 

Her last request to her husband was that the dear old English 
flag might be placed upon her coffin, and she hoped that the people 
of her adopted country M^ould not mind. The life of Princess Alice 
had been singularly beautiful, and like that of her elder sister, the 
Empress Frederick, full of high endeavor on behalf of her sex. It 
was a consolation to the Queen to gather the motherless children 
from Darmstadt around her at Osborne, where they completed their 
convalescence, and in the early spring she took one of those Con- 
tinental trips from which she always received much benefit. This 
year she traveled incognita as the Countess of Balmoral, and spent 
a month at the Villa Clara, charmingly situated at Baveno, near 
Lake Maggiore, where she made informal excursions in the district 
accompanied by Princess Beatrice. 

The Egyptian campaign of 1882 was a period of great anxiety to 
the Queen, and recalled the da^/s of the Crimean war. She received 
the news of the victory of Tel-el-Kebir when at Balmoral, and or- 
dered a bonfire to be lighted on Craig Gowan, as had been done 
at the fall of Sebastopol twenty-one years before. 

PROUD OF HER SON. 

In the earlier war she regretted she had not a son old enough 
for service ; but now with the tidings of Tel-el-Kebir came Sir 
Garnet Wolseley's telegram that her soldier-son, the Duke of Con- 
naught, had "behaved admirably, leading his brigade to the attack.'' 
His young wife. Princess Louise of Prussia, to whom he had been 
married in March, 1879, was staying at Balmoral at the time; and 
the Queen, with characteristic impulse, hastened with the telegram 
to her daughter-in-law's room, and, embracing her, wept together 
with her for joy that their beloved one was safe and so much praised. 

On the same auspicious day Her Majesty welcomed home her 
youngest son, the Duke of Albany, with his bride, Princess Helen 
of Waldeck ; and the rej oicings at Balmoral in honor of the double 
events were exceptionally hearty. 

In time of war the Queen's first thought was for the sick and 



VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 255 

vvontided, and now slie took an early opportnnity to visit Netley 
Hospital, an institution wliicli owes its existence to her initiative, 
and which she has always M^atched over with maternal care. It 
was the first public place which she visited after her husband's 
death, and she was greatly touched by a dying soldier lifting his 
eyes to her and saying, " I thank God that He has allowed me to 
live long enough to see your Majesty with my own eyes." During 
another visit she talked with a man who had been shot through 
the lungs at Lucknow. 

It was the Queen's custom after going the round of the wards 
to visit the married quarters for the accommodation of the wives 
and children of the patients in tli:: hospital, and the women re- 
ceived an agreeable surprise when tlie Queen looked in npon them 
in the midst of their household occupations. After the Egyptian 
campaign she delighted the inmates by the gift of five knitted 
quilts, one being entirely her own work, and it bore the royal 
crown and the initials " V. R." in the corner ; another was knitted 
by Princess Beatrice, and marked with her initials ; while the re- 
maining three were worked by ladies of the Court, a border being 
added to each by the Queen's own hands. 

ESTABLISHES ORDER OF RED CROSS. 

We fancy there must have been some difficulty at Netley in 
deciding who was to have the honor of sleeping under the Queen's 
quilt. At this time Her Majesty testified her regard for the noble 
band of nurses by establishing the Order of the Red Cross for 
Ladies. The installation took place at Windsor, when the Princess 
of Wales and Princess Beatrice were the first names enrolled, and 
ten lady nurses received the honor for their services in the Znlu 
and Egyptian campaigns. 

We cannot pass away from this period of the Queen's life 
without a reference to her literary activities and the delight she 
took in the societ}^ of men of letters, as evinced by the fact that 
her most frequent visitors were Dean Stanley, Sir Arthur Helps, 
and Sir Theodore Martin. Sir Arthur Helps edited her "Journal 
in the Highlands : " Sir Theodore Martin was for seven years en- 



256 VICTORIA, OURRN AND EMPRKSS. 

gaged upon the " Life of tlie Prince Consort," under the Queen's 
direction ; and Dean Stanley was frequently the medium for 
enabling her to informally meet literary celebrities. 

Carlyle, in a letter to his sister, the late Mrs. Aitken, of Dum- 
fries, thus describes his meeting the Queen at Dean Stanleys, in 
1869 : " The Stanleys and we were all in a flow of talk, and some 
flunke3^s had done setting coffee-pots and tea-cups of a sublime 
pattern, when Her Majesty, punctual to the minute, glided in, 
escorted by her dame-in-waiting (a Duchess of Athol) and by the 
Princess Louise, decidedly a very pretty young lady, and clever 
too, as I found out in talking to her afterwards. The Queen came 
softly forward, a kindl}'' smile on her face, gently shook hands with 
all the three women, gently acknowledged with a nod the silent 
bows of us male monsters ; and directly in her presence every one 
was at ease again. 

"She is a comely little lady, with a pair of kind, clear, and 
intelligent grey eyes ; still looks almost j'^oung (in spite of one 
broad wrinkle which shows on each cheek occasionally) ; is still 
plump ; has a fine, low voice, soft ; indeed, her whole manner is 
melodiously perfect. It is impossible to imagine 2. politer little 
woman ; nothing the least imperious ; all gentle, all sincere, look- 
ing unembarrassing — rather attractive, even ; makes you feel, too 
(if you have any sense in you), that she is Queen." 

GREAT ENGLISH AUTHORS. 

On this occasion Robert Browning, Sir Charles Lyell, and 
Grote the historian were present ; and with each the Queen had 
her little say, and made inquiries as to the work upon which they 
were engaged. A year later Dickens was commanded to Windsor, 
and he was most struck by the simple naivete of the Queen's man- . 
ner and her acquaintance with literature. The works of George' 
Bliot were a constant source of pleasure to her ; and it need hardly 
be said that she admired the author of " Idylls of a King," the 
dedication of which remains the most beautiful tribute to her hus- 
band's memory. 

She paid a visit to Tennyson at Freshwater, as she did to Lord 



VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 257 

Beaconsfield at Hiigbenden, aUliough she appreciated the latter 
more as a statesman than as a literary man. She sent her three 
sons to attend his funeral, and a wreath of primroses was laid upon 
the cofiin with the inscription, " His favorite flowers, from Osborne ; 
a tribute of affection from Queen Victoria." In short, Her Majesty 
prided herself upon having personally known most of the famous 
authors of her reign, from Wordsworth to Tennyson, and she was 
not without appreciation for the rising school. 

QUAINT INCIDENTS IN HER JOURNAL. 

Simple confidence in her readers is shown in her Highland 
Journals, in which the little incidents of her family life in Scotland 
are so frankly told. Apart from the interest attaching to the royal 
author, the books are of value for the graphic sketches which they 
contain of Highland life and scenery. Whether it be a christen- 
ing, a wedding, a burial or a sheep-clipping, the celebration of the 
Sacrament at Crathie Church, a torchlight dance, or the festival of 
Hallov/e'en, it is described as it passed before the writer's eyes, and 
leaves upon the reader an impression lasting and vivid. 

Specially interesting is the author's description of Scott's 
country and Abbotsford, where she had tea in the room in which 
the novelist died, and lingered about the study where he wrote. 
When requested that she should inscribe her name in his journal, 
she replied that " it would be a presumption for her to do so," but 
finally yielded to the wish of those present. Equally entertaining 
is her account of Prince Charlie's country, through which, curiously 
enough, she was conducted by Cameron of Lochiel, whose great- 
grand-uncle was the real moving cause of the rebellion of 1745 to 
dethrone Her Majesties great-great-grandfather. 
17 



CHAPTER XIV. 

A Sovereign Who Reigned by Love. 

YES," she writes, " I feel a sort of reverence in going over these 
scenes in this most beautiful country of Scotland, which I 
am proud to call my own, where there was such devoted loyalty 
to the family of my ancestors — for Stuart blood is in my veins, and 
I am now their representative, and the people are as devoted and 
loyal to me as they were to that unhappy race." 

The demand for the Queen's " Highland Journal " was enor- 
mous. It is said that the circulating libraries ordered it by the 
ton, and the press swarmed with reviews, which the royal author 
read with great interest, although we fancy the spice of the ex- 
perience was lost by the previous overlooking of the reviews by the 
ladies-in-waiting. The proceeds of the sale were devoted to estab- 
lishing bursaries, male and female, in the parish school of Crathie 
and the Queen's Schools at Girnock. 

FAITHFUL JOHN BROWN. 

The dedication of the second volume, " More Leaves," by the 
Queen to her " Loyal Highlanders, and especially to her devoted 
personal attendant and faithful friend, John Brown," was the cause 
of much comment. This instance of a mighty queen and empress 
dedicating her book to a servant is unique in literature ; but Her 
Majesty regarded a faithful servant as an honored friend, and one 
of the most beautiful traits in her character was that she never for- 
got those who served her. 

Honest John w^as as plain-spoken as he was faithful, and the 
story is told in Deeside that one day, when the Queen was out, she 
desired to sketch, and asked for a table to be borrowed from a 
neighboring cottage. There was great difficulty in finding one of 
the right height ; table after table was returned, and the eager 
people were in despair at not being able to suit the royal require- 
258 



A SOVEREIGN WHO REIGNED BY LOVE. 

ments. At length John Brown seized hold of the most likely one 
of the discarded tables, and setting it down before iiis royal mis- 
tress, said with irresistible logic, " The}^ canna mak' one on pnrpose 




PALACE OF H01,YR00D, EDINBURGH. 

for you," at which the Queen laughed and settled down to her 
sketching. 

Brown had his eye, too, on his mistress's appearance, and did 
she come out in a warm comfortable garment a little antiquated in 
cut, he would remark, " What's that you've got on the day ?" 
Despite his brusqueness, the faithful fellow would have stood be- 
tween the Queen and a bullet any day, and indeed anxiety for her 



2G0 A SOVEREIGN WHO REIGNED BV LOVE. 

caused his death. During the 3/ears 1 88 1-2 attempts had been 
made upon the Queen's life on two occasions, and she was feeling 
nervous with regard to the Fenian outrages, when a great scare 
was created in Windsor by Lady P'lorence Dixie declaring that she 
had been attacked by Fenians in the grounds of her house, not far 
from the Castle. 

So anxious was Her Majesty that she sent John Brown to ex- 
plore the shrubberies of Lady Florence Dixie's house, and in doing 
so he took a chill, which resulted in his death, on the 27th of 
March, 1883, after three days' illness. His royal mistress gave 
orders that his body should be conveyed to his native Highlands 
for burial. The grave can be seen by the visitor to Crathie church- 
yard, along with that of Frank Clark, who succeeded Brown as 
Her Majesty's personal attendant, and died. Inside the church a 
monument was erected to his memory by " his grateful and affec- 
tionate sovereign and friend, Victoria R.I.," with the inscription, 
" Kings love him that speaketh right." 

UNFAILING KINDNESS. 

Apropos of the Queen's kindness to her servants, a story was 
told by a gentleman acquainted with the girl to whom it relates. 
She was one of the housemaids at Balmoral, and the Queen, chanc- 
ing to meet her on the staircase one day, saw that she had been 
crying, and asked the reason of her grief. Seeing that the girl 
was reluctant to speak. Her Majesty commanded her to come to 
her private sitting-room, and there tell her what was the matter. 

The girl reluctantly explained that she had received notice to 
leave because she objected to attending the Bstablished Kirk along 
with the rest of the Balmoral servants. Upon hearing this the 
Queen sent for the head of her household and desired that th6 
housemaid in question should have her notice withdrawn, and' 
that in future no one in her service should be persecuted on 
account of their religious views. 

The death of John Brown came at a time when the Queen was 
suffering severely from a fall on one of the staircases at Windsor 
Castle, which sprained her knees and crippled her for several 



A SOVEREIGN WHO REIGNED BY LOVE. 261 

weeks ; and in the following year, before slie had recovered her 
health and spirits, she was smitten by a still heavier blow in the 
death of her 3^oungest son, Prince Leopold, suddenly at Cannes, 
whither he had gone for a change. Delicate health had inclined 
him to cultured, scholarly studies, and he was more like the Prince 
Consort than any of the Queen's sons, and to him she was begin- 
ning to look as the one fitted to perform the delicate duty of private 
secretary in the place of him whom she had lost. 

The sad news was broken to her at Osborne by the late Sir 
Henry Ponsonb}^, and, though quite prostrated by it, she was, as 
ever, thoughtful of others, and desired Princess Beatrice to leave 
her side and hasten to comfort the young widow at Claremont, 
whose delicate condition rendered the shock of the tidings more 
serious. The Empress Eugenie, who was staying near Osborne, 
came to the Queen to oifer consolation, and after spending some 
hours with her was able to report that Her Majesty was greatly 
relieved by being able to talk over her loss with one who knew 
what bereavement was. Some j^ears before the positions had been 
reversed, and it was the Queen who had comforted the Empress, 
first, after the death of the exiled Emperor, and again when her 
only son met such a terrible death in the Zulu war of 1879. 

WANTED A MILITARY FUNERAL. 

Prince Leopold, like his father, had premonitions of death. 
" He would talk to nie about death," writes one v/ho was with him 
a few days before he died, " and said he would like a military 
funeral." I asked, "Why, sir, do you talk in this melancholy 
manner?" As he was about to answer he was called away, and 
said, " I'll tell you later." I never saw him again, but he finished 
his answer to me, to another lady, and said : " For two nights now 
Princess Alice has appeared to me in my dreams, and says she is 
quite happy, and that she wants me to come and join her." The 
body of the Prince was brought from Cannes and interred at St. 
George's, Windsor. 

In 1S85, the year following Prince Leopold's death, came the 
last marriage in the Queen's family, that of " Baby " Beatrice, who 



262 ■ A SOVEREIGN WHO REIGNED BY LOVE. 

had now for fourteen years been lier mother's devoted attendant, to 
the late Prince Henry of Battenberg. Princess Beatrice, having 
been so much with grown-up people when a child, was a little 
quaint in her ways, and several stories are told of her funny little 
speeches. When a little lady of six she found it very difficult to 
get proper respect shown her by her nephew and niece of Germany, 
and taking Dr. Macleod into her confidence, she said : " What do 
you think. Dr. Macleod ? I am an aunt, and yet my nephew 
William (the present Emperor) won't do what I bid him. Both 
he and Elizabeth refused to shut the door ! Is that not naughty ?'' 

CHILDREN STREWED FLOWERS. 

The wedding of the Queen's youngest daughter took place 
from Osborne at the little ivy-clad village church of Whippinham. 
Only semi-State was observed. The bride wore her mother's Hon- 
iton lace and veil, and was attended by her ten young nieces in 
white tulle frocks. Little children strewed flowers and decked the 
wayside with homely tributes of affection, and the whole scene was 
an ideally perfect village wedding. 

It was arranged that the bride should continue to live with her 
mother as Princess in waiting. The marriage proved one of great 
happiness, and in her new son-in-law Her Majesty found one who 
joined with his wife in unselfish ministrations to her comfort. His 
untimely death was a real personal loss, as well as grief to the 
sympathetic Queen. 

Although it had long been apparent that Her Majesty would 
never resume her old place in society, she had officiated at a number 
of public ceremonials, and had held occasional drawing-rooms, as 
well as now and again re-opening Parliament, and in May of 1886 
she opened the Colonial and Indian Exhibition at South Kensing- 
ton. This notable ceremony, which vividly recalled to her the 
Exhibition of 185 1, seemed like a gathering together of the repre- 
sentatives from all parts of her mighty empire as a prelude to the 
celebration of her jubilee in the following year. 

In the May preceding Jubilee Day, the Queen visited the 
East End to open the People's Palace. The route, seven miles 



A SOVEREIGN WHO REIGNED BY LOVE. 263 

long, was decorated in gay and characteristic style by tlie Kast 
Enders, and it Avas noticed that the Queen eyed the quaint, humor- 
ous devices with great pleasure, and at the opening ceremony at 
the Palace bowed and smiled at the references made to herself, in 
the speeches, in a delightfully informal manner. On the way back 
she visited the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House, and partook of 
tea and strawberries ; this was the first time she had been at the 
Mansion House since she was the young Princess Victoria, and 
visited it with her mother. 

A boy in the crowd, when he found that the Queen had sud- 
denly disappeared, asked eagerly, " Where is she gone ?" "Gone?" 
replied the old basket woman. " Why, into the Lord Mayor's, to 
have a bite and a sup, poor thing, and I'll be bound as she needs 
it." The Queen always showed a sympathetic interest in the East 
End, and one of her chaplains relates that after he had preached 
for the first time at Windsor he was summoned to her private 
apartment, and Her Majesty asked him a number of questions 
about East London and the state of labor at the docks, and then 
told him how she dealt with her cottagers at Balmoral, and about 
the schools she had established, 

SYMPATHY FOR THE NEEDY. 

" I could hardly realize," added this gentlemen, " that I was 
talking with the Queen ; she dismissed me filled with a vivid per- 
ception of her fine, royal courtesy, as well as her personal knowl- 
edge of and concern for the needy in her realm." In times of special 
distress in East London, the Queen privately forwarded money for 
distribution. 

Another clergyman relates that when he was a boy in the Isle 
of Wight he saw the Queen coming out of a cottage where she had 
been to visit a sick person, and heard one workman say to another, 
" I like the Queen, Bill. I like having somebody to look up to ;" 
and his companion replied, " Yes, and she is so good too." 

There were three royal jubilees in the history of this country, 
but not one in anyway comparable to the jubilee of the 2ist of June, 
1887, when the whole land, together with the distant colonies and 



264 A SOVEREIGN WHO REIGNED BY LOVE. 

every quarter of the globe where the British flag waves, rang with 
the voice of jubilation that the great woman who had ennobled the 
crown was spared in health and strength to celebrate the fiftieth 
year of her reign. It was a thrilling moment when, in the blaze 
of the glorious June sunshine, the Queen drove out through the 
gates of Buckingham Palace on her way to Westminster Abbey, 
just as she had done fifty years before on her coronation day. 

PLAUDITS OF THE PEOPLE. 

But the bright young girl was now a grey-haired woman who 
had seen much sorrow and battled with many difiiculties. Still, there 
was a gleam of triumph in her face, for were there not sons and 
daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren rising up to call 
her blessed, while the shouts of the multitudes which rent the air 
testified that throughout these fifty years she had retained the love 
and loyalty of her people ! The scene in the Abbey was brilliant, 
as had been that earlier scene ; but there was a hush of reverence 
over the assembly, for the monarch had come to publicly give 
thanks to Almighty God that she had been spared to see that day. 

At the end of the service the numerous members of her family 
were to personally offer their congratulations. The Lord Cham^ 
berlain had arranged it in correct style, but the Queen waived 
ceremony, and drawing each one in turn for a motherly embrace, 
turned the grand pageant into a happy family reunion. Fitting 
close, next day, to the festivities which had reigned everywhere 
throughout the country, was the monster school treat in Hyde 
Park, where thirty thousand school children of London were en- 
tertained. In the cool of the summer evening the Queen drove 
down the ranks and viewed the little ones : then the Prince of 
Wales brought to her carriage Florence Dunn, whe had not missed 
an attendance at school for six years, and the Queen smiled down 
at the little champion, and, handing her the jubilee mug, said, " I 
am pleased to give you this memorial of my jubilee, dear child " ; 
and this characteristic act closed the great celebration. 

It was an interesting coincidence that the minister of a coun- 
try parish who had preached a sermon on the Queen's coronation 



"^ A SOVEREIGN WHO REIGNED BY LOVE. 26b 

also preached one on her jubilee ; and still more wonderful was the 
case of an old lady in the town of Chipping Sodbury who had been 
present at George III.'s jubilee, and came out hale and hearty to 
help in the local celebration of Queen Victoria's, wearing the same 
bonnet, a Leghorn of coal-scuttle shape, which she had worn at 
the former jubilee. 

After a few days' rest at Windsor, Her Majesty came to town 
again, and on the 30th of June opened the Holloway College for 
Women, thus testifying her interest in the advance of that higher 
education amongst women which, along with their improved legal 
and social status, has fittingly marked her reign. In the spring 
succeeding her jubilee, the Queen spent some weeks in Florence 
always a favorite resort with her, as it had been with the Prince 
Consort. She was to be seen each morning in the park adjacent 
to the villa, taking an airing in her donkey chair, and later in the 
day driving through the country districts, visiting the churches, 
and interesting herself in the life of the people. 

APPEARED IN THE STREETS OF FLORENCE. 

For one brief day she stopped her incognita and drove in public 
with her suite, and it seemed as though all Florence swarmed into 
the streets to greet her. The Queen did this to show her gratitude 
to the people for respecting her desire for privacy. She was fond 
of chatting with the country folk and one morning seeing two little 
girls gathering violets in the field near her villa, entered into con- 
versation with them, and presented each of them with a jubilee 
sovereign, at which they rushed home to tell their mothers that the 
" Regina d'Inghilterra had given them a gilt medal with her like- 
ness on it." 

On her way back from Florence the Queen visited her dying 
son-in-law, the Emperor Frederick, at Charlottenburg, a visit inex- 
pressibly sad; but Her Majesty w^as not only able to comfort her 
daughter and cheer the dying Emperor — she acted as a peacemaker 
in the friction at Court caused by the Empress Frederick favoring 
the marriage of her daughter, Princess Victoria, with Prince Alex- 
ander of Battenberg. 



266 A SOVEREIGN WHO REIGNED BY LOVE. 

The Queen persuaded her daughter to drop the match, and by 
her tact brought about such a good understanding all round that 
Prince Bismark, with whom she had a long interview, declared that 
" Her Majesty was gifted with a statesman-like wisdom of the 
highest order " ; and indeed most political leaders who came into 
personal contact with the Queen testified to her remarkable insight 
and sagacity. 

In her later years her life flowed on in the same steady, even 
course, with little jaunts to the Continent, visits to the Highlands, 
Christmas spent in good old English style at Osborne, and the 
discharge of occasional public Court functions in London ; but 
wherever she was her hand was at the helm, and telegraph and 
telephone messengers and despatch-boxes kept her hourly informed 
of everything which transpired even in the remotest part of her vast 
dominions. Her naturally robust constitution was preserved by the 
simplicity of her mode of life, spent largely in the open air, and her 
mind was kept bright and fresh by the interest she took in the 
younger members of her extensive family circle. 

One hears much of Grand Old Men in these days ; but who 
amongst them can say that he has been at his present post for 
sixty long years without one single day "off"? In all love and 
loyalty we would say that the Grand Old Woman, who sat on 
Britain's throne, beat the record." We know that there does not 
exist in the annals of any land a period so fraught with moral and 
material greatness as the reign of Victoria, Queen and Empress. 



./ 



CHAPTER XV. 

Stories of the Royal Family. 

WHEN tlie women of Great Britain were subscribing their 
Jubilee gift to the Queen, a colony of Japanese women at 
Kniglitsbridge added their contribution with this character- 
istic wish : " Truly she must be a great ' Lady King ; ' may she 
live on an unshaken throne yet another fifty years, and after that 
the perpetual bliss ! " All sections of the community at home and 
throughout her vast colonial dominions, as well as among the 
swarthy millions of India, though they never saw her face, yet 
regarded her as their Empress-Mother. She was honored in the 
Courts of Europe as no English monarch ever was before. It 
seemed, indeed, that the Continent was rapidly coming under the 
sphere of British influence through the alliances made by the 
children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria. 

HER VOICE WAS FOR PEACE. 

When Russian ministers proposed any course of procedure 
likely to upset the peace of Europe and bring England into the 
fray, the young Czar and Czarina promptly replied, " It must not 
be ; we cannot have our Grandmother, the Queen, worried." 

In America, the influence of our "Lady King" was not unfelt. 
American citizens still remember the hearty greetings which 
Queen Victoria sent to President Buchanan along the lines of the 
newly laid Atlantic cable ; such felicitations, however, were enough 
to make her grandfather, His Majesty King George III., turn in 
his grave. Neither can America forget the words of womanly 
sympathy and feeling which the Queen addressed to the wife of its 
murdered President, James Garfield. 

Upon that American citizen, the great philanthropist, George 
Peabody, she would gladly have conferred the Grand Cross of the 
Order of the Bath, but he declined all such honors. When asked 
what he would accept, he replied, " A letter from the Queen of 
England, which I may carry across the Atlantic and deposit as a 

267 



268 STORIES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. 

memorial of one of her most faittiful sons." It should be a bond of 
union between the two countries that in the Peabody Institute the 
miniature of Queen Victoria, which she sent to Mr. Peabody along 
with her letter, is deposited in a vault of famous relics side by side 
with a cane which belonged to Benjamin Franklin. 

It was owing to the tact of the Queen and Prince Consort in 
the wording of that famous despatch on the " Trent " affair, at the 
outbreak of the Civil War in America, that peace was preserved 
betv/een England and the United States. Her Majesty was more 
ready to try the power of moral suasion than of force. We had an 
example of this in the autograph letters which the Queen addressed 
to the Sultan of Turkey regarding the atrocities in Armenia, and 
to her Grandson of Germany upon his attitude to Bngland over the 
rebellion and raid in the Transvaal. 

SHE WAS A GOOD WOMAN. 

Her Majesty sat upon the throne of her country for a longer 
period than any of her predecessors. The glories of the sixty-three 
years of her reign, and the unexampled prosperity which the 
country has enjoyed under her benificent rule, are for the historian 
to tell ; but when one pauses to study the personal character of the 
Queen, and the attributes which have made her beloved at home 
and revered abroad, they are to be summed up in one simple phrase 
— she was a good woman. 

Not faultless, certainly ; the charming wilfulness of the child 
has a survival in maturer age. Strong and passionate in her 
attachments, the Queen could be, in her young days, quick and 
hasty even with those whom she loved best ; but shallowness was 
no part of her nature, neither did she harbor resentment. Absolute 
truthfulness and sincerity were the qualities which dominated her 
character, and also gratitude towards those who served her faith- 
fully, great Ministers of State or humble servants. It was a part of 
the nobleness of her disposition that she did not assume that she 
had a right to special attention because of her high position. 

One frequently meets in her diaries with expressions of pleas- 
ure at kindness shown to her when visiting at the houses of her 



STORIES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. 269 

subjects, as though it were something unmerited. Among the 
many touching incidents of her gratitude to those who had been 
her faithful friends was the visit paid by her to Sir John Biddulph 
when he lay dying at Abergeldie Mains. " You have been very 
kind to me, your Majesty," said the dying man, " No," replied the 
Queen, as she pressed his hand, " it is you who have been very 
kind to 7ney 

An utter detestation of shams was another of Her Majesty's 
characteristics, shown by the fact that those who obtained her 
greatest confidence were honest, even to bluntness. She liked to ' 
get at the root and reality of things, and the timeserver stood no 
chance before her keen scrutiny. Her fondness for her faithful 
Highlanders became almost a proverb, and she was never so happy 
as when talking with the old folks at Balmoral without form or 
ceremony, and much of her love for her Scottish home may be 
attributed to the fact that there she could throw off the restraints of 
royalty more thoroughly than in au}^ other place. She was an 
exemplary landowner, and had erected schools, model cottages, 
established a free library, and provided a trained sick nurse for the 
tenants at Balmoral. 

EVER A FRIEND IN NEED. 

To her cottagers at Osborne she was also ever the friend in 
time of need ; and when she erected alms-houses on her estate for 
the use of poor old women, she retained one tiny room for her- 
self, thus, as it were, becoming an alms-woman herself and keeping 
her poorer neighbors company. In matters of religion the Queen 
showed herself singularly free from prejudice. At Balmoral she 
always worshipped according to the simple style of the Scottish 
Church and partook of its rites in communion, while she chose for 
her chief spiritual guides Dr. Norman Macleod and Principal 
Tulloch. 

In England the service in her private chapels was the simp- 
lest form of the Episcopal Church, and her close friendship with 
Dean Stanley would point to the fact that she inclined to the 
broader school of thought, and cared more for deeds than creeds. 



270 STORIES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. 

Slie ever set a good example in Sabbatli observance ; and many 
years ago, when it came to her knowledge that tradespeople were 
employed to bring provisions to Buckingham Palace on Sunday 
morning, she at once ordered that no eatables were to be brought 
into the Palace on Sunday. 

The Queen was very fond of quoting the saying of Schopen- 
hauer, " If it were not for the honest faces of dogs, we should 
forget the very existence of sincerity ;" and from her childhood she 
always had dogs about her. Her earliest favorite, "Dash," a black 
and tan spaniel, was her constant companion when, as the Princess 
Victoria, she took her morning walk in Kensington Gardens, and 
his joyous bark was the first welcome she received ou her return to 
Buckingham Palace from her coronation. 

HOW "LOOTY" WAS RESCUED. 

"Looty," a lovely silken, long-haired dog brought by a British 
officer from China, was a later favorite. When the Summer Palace 
at Pekin Avas burning this little dog was discovered curled up 
amongst soft shawls and rugs in one of the wardrobes, and the 
officer who rescued him and brought him to England as a present 
to the Queen gave him the significant name of "Looty." A picture 
of him by Mr. F. W. Reyl was exhibited in the Royal Academy 
many years ago. 

Her Majesty had a special fondness for collies, and among 
these faithful animals " Noble" and " Sharp" were for many years 
chief favorites, and always traveled with her to and from Balmoral. 
"* Noble,'" she writes in her dairy, " is the most biddable dog I ever 
saw. He will hold a piece of cake in his mouth without eating it 
until he ma}^ If he thinks we are not pleased with him, he puts 
out his paws and begs in such an affectionate way." A beautiful 
collie named "Darnley II." was for many years Her Majesty's chief 
pet. He had a special " cottage" of his own, apart from the 
kennels of the other dogs. 

In their beautiful homes in the grounds of Windsor Castle 
were to be seen skyes, collies, pugs and dachs in great variety ; but 
the Queen's particular pride were her Italian Spitzes, a breed of 



STORIES OF THE ROYAL I'AMILY. 271 

beautiful buff-colored dogs which she was the first to introduce into 
England. " Marco," with his lovely white coat and almost human 
intelligence, was another chief favorite with his royal mistress. It 
would be a mistake to suppose that these pets were unduly pam- 
pered, for the Queen believed that plain living induced high think- 
ing in dogs as \vell as in human beings. 

Her Majesty was one of the most accomplished horsewomen 
of her time, and her ponies had an almost equal share of attention 
witu her dogs. There was "Jessie," which was her favorite riding 
mare for twenty-five years, and carried her through many a High- 
land expedition ; then there were her two Shetland ponies, and 
"Flora" and "Alma," presented by King Victor Emmanuel, and a 
gray Arab, a present from the Thakore of Morvi. The royal mews 
at Windsor cover an extent of four acres, and have accommodation 
for one hundred horses. 

The harness horses are nearly all of them gray, and those for 
the broughams are dark chestnut. But speciall}^ proud was the 
Queen of her twelve cream-colored horses in the mews at Bucking- 
ham Palace, looking very beautiful indeed with their long, silky 
tails nearly touching the ground. Their ancestors took the girl 
Queen to her coronation, and the stock was always kept up for 
Her Majesty's use on state occasions. 

THAT LITTLE SARDINIAN PONY. 

An amusing little favorite of the Queen was " Picco," which 
she used to drive in a pony carriage some years ago. He was a 
Sardinian pony, presented by the King of that country, and was 
only fourty-four inches high. That charming naturalist Frank 
Buckland has given an amusing account of his attempts to sketch 
this fussy, nervous little fellow, who was highly indignant at hav^ 
ing his measurements taken. The Queen was greatly diverted by 
the account of her pet's behavior, for she was fond of studying tht> 
characters of the animals about her, and liked them to have their 
pictures taken. 

Bushey Park was used as a kind of home of rest for the pet 
horses who were no longer fit for active service. There "Pico" 



27^ STORIES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. 

Was sent to end his da^^s and as an object lesson in humility, lie had 
" Alderney," a costermonger's rescued victim, given him for a 
companion. One day, when the Queen was driving in the Isle of 
Wight, she saw a costermonger savagely beating a beautiful white 
pony, and, stopping her carriage, she offered to buy the ill-used 
animal, in order to save him from his life of misery. She gave him 
the name of " Alderney," and promoted him to a life of ease in 
Bushey Park, where he doubtless entertained his aristocratic friend 
" Picco " with the doings of costerland. 

Later, the Queen's chief favorite was " Jacquot," the strong 
handsome donkey with the white nose and knotted tail, which 
drew lier chair in the gardens of Frogmore or through the shady 
glades at Osborne, and accompanied Her Majesty to the Highlands 
and to Florence and the Riviera. 

The Queen's love for the brute creation did not limit itself to 
those animals that had the good fortune to be her pets. She was a 
warm supporter of those societies which labor to ameliorate the 
sufferings of animals, and viewed the modern thirst for scientific 
discovery by means of vivisection with apprehension. 

PROTEST AGAINST CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. 

In a letter sent at her command by Sir Thomas Biddulph, in 
1872, to Lord Harrowby, then President of the Society for the Pre- 
vention of Cruelty to animals, this passage occurs : " The Queen 
hears and reads with horror of the suffering which the brute crea- 
tion often undergo from the thoughtlessness of the ignorant, and, 
shefears, also, sometimes from experiments in the pursuit of science. 
For the removal of the former the Queen trusts much to the 
progress of education, and, in regard to the pursuit of science, 
she hopes that the entire advantage of those anaesthetic discoveries 
from which man has derived so much benefit himself in the allevia- 
tion of suffering may be freely extended to the lower animals." 
Her Majesty was a great sympathizer with that branch of the 
society's work which aimed at educating the children in the board 
schools to a sense of kindness to dumb animals by means of prizes 
given for essays upon the subject. 



STORIES OF THE HQVAL FAMiLY. 273 

The Queen's anxiety to protect lambs from what she con- 
ceived to be premature killing resulted in rather an amusing fiasco 
some years ago. She had been reading gloomy articles in the 
newspapers about the decrease of English sheep, and she immedi- 
ately attributed it to the excessive slaughter of very young lambs, 
and gave orders that no lamb was to be used in the royal house- 
hold. The price of the meat at once fell to fourpence a pound, and 
it became necessary to explain to the Queen that the consumption 
of lamb was not the cause of the trouble, it was a question of 
breeding, and she then withdrew her mandate. This little incident 
is but one of many which serve to show her anxiety to promote the 
public good by her example. 

FROWNS ON BARBAROUS EXHIBITIONS. 

Many years ago, before county councils existed for the super- 
vision of public amusements, the Queen made her influence felt in 
Birmingham. At a fete in Aston Park a woman who had been 
forced to walk on a rotten tight-rope was dashed to pieces in a 
shocking manner. Snch was the callousness of the committee that 
they permitted the festivities to proceed in spite of the dreadful 
occurrence. 

A few days later the Mayor of Birmingham was the astonished 
recipient of a letter from the Queen's Secretary, to this effect: 
" Her Majesty cannot refrain from making known her personal 
feelings of horror that one of her subjects — a female — should have 
been sacrificed to the gratification of the demoralizing taste, 
unfortunately prevalent, for exhibitions attended with the greatest 
danger to the performers. If any proof were wanting that such 
exhibitions are demoralizing, it would be found in the decision 
arrived at to continue the festivities, the hilarity, and the sports of 
the occasion after an event so melancholy. The Queen trusts that 
the Mayor, in common with the townspeople of Birmingham, will 
use his influence to prevent in future the degradation by such 
exhibitions of the park which she and the beloved Prince Consort 
opened for the rational recreation of the people." 

In the early days of railway traveling the Queen, who, with 

18 



274 STORIES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. 

characteristic fearlessness, liad been one of the first to trnst to the 
" steam demon," was very active in bringing pressure to bear upon 
the railway companies to induce them to take greater precaution 
for the protection of passengers. It was she who, in conjunction 
with the Prince Consort, put an end in England to the barbarous 
custom of duelling. When standing on Wimbleton Common look- 
ing at the spot where the last duel was fought, an old man came 
up who had been a witness to the scene, and he described it in 
quaint and graphic language. " I shall never forget," he said, 
" my feelings as a lad when I saw the man who had been shot 
lying with his dead, upturned face upon the turf, and Lord Cardi- 
gan, who had shot him, hurrying away with his friends. Ah, well! 
the Queen put an end to that sort of thing ; she's done a few good 
things in the course of her time." 

LIKE COURT, LIKE PEOPLE. 

Now that legislation has become so much more humanitarian 
in its scope than it was once, one is apt to lose sight of the im- 
mense influence of royal example. In the good old days the chief 
restraint on social customs was fashion. As was the court, so were 
the people. Probably no English monarch did more for the purifi- 
cation of society and for the elevation of a simple domestic life 
than Victoria. If great ladies to-day prefer to spend their leisure 
hours in the support of pet philanthropies instead of the excite- 
ment of lotteries, was it not the Queen who set the vogue by asso- 
ciating her great name with schemes of beneficence ? 

She was a visitor in the wards of great hospitals long before 
ladies of birth and social position took up such work to any extent. 
That philanthropy is to-day fashionable is due to a wave of influ- 
ence coming from the throne and permeating all classes of societ}^ 
All the Queen's daughters, and, indeed, daughters-in-law also, are 
women who delight in good works ; and although they owe much 
of their impetus in that direction to the Prince Consort, it was the 
Queen who gave her children such an admirable father. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Queen an Example to Her People. 

A NOTHBR of Her Majest3^'s characteristics which infliienced 
^^ the national life of her own sex Avas her love of fresh air and 
ontdoor exercise. There is a connection betw^een the venerated 
sovereign taking her breakfast in a tent on the lawn and spending 
many hours of each da}^ driving, whatever the weather might be, 
and the fine, health}^, well-developed girl of the period swinging 
her tennis racket, playing hockey, and boating and cycling. 
When the Qneeu was young such things were not, and the 
mammas of that time were probably shocked when they first 
heard of Her Majesty going deer-stalking with her hiisband for 
nine hours at a stretch, undertaking perilous mountain expedi- 
tions, and walking about in the wilds of Balmoral with a hood 
drawn over her bonnet to protect her face from the rain. 

She was fond, too, of taking an early walk before breakfast ; 
and on one occasion, when paying a visit to Blair Athole, she set 
out alone early one morning before any one was about, and wand- 
ered so far — beguiled by the fresh autumn air — that she lost her 
way, and was obliged to appeal to some reapers whom she saw 
working in a field to show her the way back. She always 
encouraged her daughters to take plenty of outdoor exercise, and 
they were expert skaters at a time when the pastime was an 
uncommon one for ladies. Princess Alice was a particularly 
graceful skater, and after marriage found that she was nearly the 
only lady in Darmstadt who could skate. 

The Queen gave her countenance to ladies riding the tricycle 
at a very early stage of the introduction of that machine. It was 
while taking her favorite drive along the Newport Road in the 
Isle of Wight that she for the first time saw a lady riding a tri- 
cycle, and she was so much pleased that she ordered two machines 
to be sent to Osborne for some of her ladies to learn to ride upon. 

275 



276 THE QUEEN AN EX.'^MPLE TO HER PEOPLE. 

When tlie more expeditious bicj^cle came into use, Her Majesty 
looked askance for a time at ladies using it ; but soon ska took 
tke greatest deliglit in watching tlie merr^^ C3'cling parties of 
princesses wkick started dail}' from Balmoral in tke autumn, and 
ske enjoyed mau}^ of lier kearty laugks at tliose wko were in tke 
learner's stage, and kad not mastered tke m3^ster3^ of maintaining 
^",ke balance. 

Tkat latest innovation in tke way of vekicles — tke motor- 
car — was regarded by tke Queen witk especial interest, for wken 
ske was a girl tkere was an effort made to introduce coackes run 
by steam on tke roads, but tke public did not take to tke idea of 
tkese korseless carriages, and so tkey dropped out of existence, 
and "Jarvey" won tke day. 

RIDING IN A STEAM COACH. 

On at least one occasion Her Majesty rode in one; it was 
wken ske was about twelve years of age. Witk ker motker, tke 
Duckess of Kent, ske kad been to visit His Majesty King George 
IV at tke Royal Lodge, and tkey made tke return journey from 
Windsor to London in a steam coack. 

In ker attitude to modern inventions tke Queen always 
skowed kerself ready to accept new ideas, but it was said tkat 
ske did not tal^e to tke electric ligkt, and would not kave it intro- 
duced into tbe royal palaces. At Balmoral ske kad tke rooms 
ligkted by candles, and burned wood fires, as ske found tkis old- 
faskioned style cozier, and it reminded ker of ker young days. 
Tke Queen first adopted gas in 1843, wken it was used to ligkt 
tke new ball-room at Buckingkam Palace, on tke occasion of tke 
first visit of Napoleon and tke Bmpress Eugenie to England. 

Tke ceiling of tke room was decorated in various colors, to 
enable Her Majesty to form an idea of tke effect of tke new illu- 
minant. Ske and tke Prince Consort were so pleased witk it tkat 
tkey skortly afterwards introduced it into Windsor Castle. Prob- 
ably tke Queen tkougkt to kave witnessed one entire revolution 
in tke way of domestic ligkting was enougk in a lifetime, and 
ske will leave tke adoption of tke electric ligkt to younger people. 



THE QUEEN AN EXAMPLE TO HER PEOPLE. 277 

The early Britisli custom of erecting cairns, or heaps of 
stones, to commemorate events, was one greatly in favor with 
the Queen. The first royal cairn was erected when she took pos- 
session of Balmoral, and the estate is now quite rich in these 
unique memorials, there being one to commemorate the Prince 
Consort's death and the marriages of each of her children One 
might say that Her Majesty had a passion for having memorials 
of her domestic joys and sorrows, and she was most punctilious 
in the observance of anniversaries. 

She kept her own birthday, and had a birthday cake like 
other people, and was keenly appreciative of the presents which 
were sent to her by ever}^ member of her family, even to the 
youngest branches. The Prince Cousorf'? birthday was also 
observed, and his health drunk in silence. 

ARRANGEMENTS FOR ROYAL FUNERALS. 

After her great bereavement her mind naturally dwelt much, 
on death observances, and she herself drew up a complete code of 
directions for the arrangement of royal funerals and layings out. 
Different shrouds w^ere directed to be used for the male and female 
members of the family, also for the married and unmarried ; and 
female members of theroyal family abroad were to be represented 
by one of their own sex. 

When the Duchess of Cambridge died in 1889, the Queen 
insisted that the funeral should be in semi-state, although the 
aged Duchess had herself desired to be buried quite privately. She 
was one of the few left who had known the Queen in the heyday 
of her youth and had really loved and cared for her, and Her Maj- 
esty was determined that her much revered aunt should be buried 
with the observance due to her high birth as well as to her excel- 
lent character. 

The apartments used by deceased royalties in the Queen's 
palaces and houses are kept locked up. Those of Princess Char- 
lotte at Claremont have been preserved as she left them for more 
than seventy 3^ears. Prince Albert's private rooms at Windsor, 
Osborne, and Balmoral, and the Duchess of Kent's at Frogmore, 



278 THE QUEEN AN EXAMPLE 10 HER PEOPLE. 

also remain undisturbed, and the Queen testified her special 
esteem for John Brown by directing that the rooms which he used 
at Windsor Castle are to be kept sacred to his memory. 

Her Majesty had a great objection to embalming, and pro- 
hibited it with regard to royal persons, unless the circumstances 
were very exceptional. After the sad death of the Prince Imperial 
at the hands of the Zulus, and the impossibility there was of pre- 
serving his body for the Empress to take a last look at it, the 
Queen so far relaxed her regulations as to permit the various 
accessories for embalming being taken out when one of the royal 
family undertook foreign service. The wisdom of this arrange- 
ment was sadly seen in the case of Prince Henry of Battenberg. 

RECOMMENDED DEEP MOURNING. 

Her Majesty was a little behind the spirit of the times in 
regard to regulations for mourning. She advocated absolute 
retirement for a time in the case of bereaved people, and the most 
lugubrious signs of outward mourning. It would seem, also, that 
she did not favor the re-marriage of widows, judging from the 
significant fact that not one of the royal widows, young or middle 
aged, has been provided with a second husband. In the case of 
widowers Her Majesty's strictures were not so severe. 

She instituted several changes with regard to royal weddings. 
She herself set the example of being married in the morning, 
royal marriages having formerly been celebrated in an evening. 
It was not customary in former reigns for royalties to retire for a 
honeymoon; His Majesty King George III. remained at St. 
James's and held levees immediately after his marriage. The 
Queen and Prince Albert had a brief honeymoon of two days at 
Windsor ; then the Duchess of Kent and all the Court came 
flocking down to escort the royal pair back to a round of functions 
and festivities in London. 

Even that very young bride the Princess Royal had, like her 
mother, only two days of absolute retirement. Since that the royal 
honeymoons have been gradually increasing in length, and one 
of the latest brides, Princess Maud, has had a whole week of 



THE QUEEN AN EXAMPLE TO HER PEOPLE. 279 

seclusion, and tlien it was only broken in upon by a visit from her 
mother and sister. The custom of brides mingling myrtle with 
their orange blossoms is, as we all know, a fashion introduced by 
the Queen. 

In matters of Court etiquette Her Majesty was punctilious to 
a degree, and her memory for pedigrees, as for faces, was unri- 
valled. A story is told by a Court lady that a question arose at 
the royal table between herself and Lord Beaconsfield as to the 
genealogy of some obscure Italian duke who had suddenly come 
into notice. No one could tell who he was. " There is one per- 
son who could give the information," said Lord Beaconsfield, "and 
that is the Queen." He took the first opportunity of asking the 

question. "The Duca di ?" replied Her Majesty. "Oh, 

yes, I remember perfectly," and she forthwith gave a full history 
of his family. 

HER REMARKABLE MEMORY. 

Prime Ministers of modern times sometimes found the Queen's 
remarkable memory a little embarrassing, as in discussion on 
political questions she would confront them with the views of Peel 
or Palmerston, or with the advice given her by Lord Melbourne 
in the first year of her reign ; and it is reported that Lord Salis- 
bury was once driven to delicately hint that there was a difference 
between the state of affairs in '37 and '87. 

Her Majesty was always very strict with regard to regula- 
tions for Court dress. All ladies, of whatever age, were required 
to appear in bodices with low necks and short sleeves. Plumes 
must always be worn standing erect from the back of the head ; 
no modification was permitted. When a lady who formerly reigned 
as a society beauty and was a theatrical star, was to be presented, 
she arranged her Court head-dress in quite an artistic manner, 
pinning down the feathers upon her lovely hair in a most becom- 
ing manner. All went well until she passed before the Court 
functionary preparatory to making the entree; then she W3,s 
ordered to remove the pins, as no lady was permitted to enter the 
Presence except with her plumes erect. 



280 THE QUEEN AN EXAMPLE TO HER PEOPLE. 

It had always been the practice to forbid the attendance at 
drawing-rooms of ladies divorced, even though it was for no fault 
of their of own ; but the Queen, with her admirable sense of justice, 
came to the conclusion that this was scarcely fair, and decided that 
a lady of blameless life ought not to be excluded from Court by 
reason of her husband's misdeeds. The matter was brought 
before the Cabinet some years ago, but allowed to drop without 
its being decided. The question was revived in 1889, and it was 
arranged that ladies debarred by divorce may make special appli- 
cation for admission to Court to the Queen herself who decides on 
the merit of each case, after having had the report of the trial 
laid before her. There is a record of one lady who had obtained 
divorces from two husbands in succession gaining the Queen's 
permission to be presented on her third marriage. 

TOOK DELIGHT IN FLOWERS. 

To one so fond of outdoor life and the beauties of nature as 
Her Majesiy, flowers were naturally a special delight, and she 
preferred to see them growing rather than when used for indoor 
decoration. In the grounds at Osborne there is a flower-bed 
specially planted for the Queen's pleasure with pinks and carna- 
tions, as she was very fond of these old fashioned flowers, and 
frequently took tea on a spot near to the bed. During her drives 
from Osborne to Newport she noticed the lovely gardens and 
houses belonging to Mr. Nunn, the famous manufacturer of the 
lace called by his name, and one day expressed a wish to see over 
them. 

Ever afterwards a basket of Mr. Nunn's choicest blooms was 
sent daily to the Queen when she v/as at Osborne, and the gift 
gave her the greatest pleasure. At the time of the Jubilee a loyal 
gentleman suggested the wearing of the Queen's favorite flower 
as a badge, and wrote to Sir Henry Ponsonby to inquire what it 
was. Her Majesty replied that in summer she preferred the rose 
to any other flower. Probably it was the sweet and delicate odor 
of the national flower as well as its beauty which pleased the Queen, 
as plie gr^-atly disliked, strong perfucn^es. 



THE QUEEN AN EXAMPLE TO HER PEOPLE. 28] 

Speaking of scents, one is reminded that Her Majesty had 

sucii a dislike to the smell of cigars and tobacco that smoking 

was for many years prohibited in Windsor Castle, a restriction 

in which the Prince Consort fully concurred. Cards requesting 

that gentlemen would not smoke were neatly framed and hung 

in the rooms of the lords-in-waiting and equerries of the royal 

suite, and the servants and work people were forbidden to smoke 

inside the Castle. No such rigid restriction exists to-day, which 

is attributed to the influence of John Brown, who liked his pipe, 

and, being as canny as he was faithful, persuaded the Queen 

that a little tobacco smoke was " no a bad thing to have about a 

hoose." 

MUSIC FOR EVERY HOME. 

Previous to the death of the Prince Consort the Queen was 
devoted to music, and spent a great deal of time both in singing 
and playing. They were both most anxious to see music more 
universal in the homes of the people, and strongly advocated its 
being taught in the public schools — a fact which may be interesu- 
ing to those engaged in controversy to-day regarding the use of 
pianos in the schools. After the death of the Prince she scarcely 
played at all, but remained one of the kindest patrons of singer? 
and musicians, who counted a command to perform before the 
Queen a personal pleasure, as she was so appreciative, and would 
talk with them of the great " stars" whom she had listened to in 
the da3'S gone by. 

Sketching was the Queen's favorite recreation as a child, and 
SO it remained. She was particularly proud of her art collection 
at Windsor, and, when there, did not let many weeks go by with- 
out taking a look round the Royal library, which contained one 
of the finest collections of engravings and specimens of old masters, 
both English and foreign. But her unrivalled collection of min- 
iatures was her particular pride, and she boasted sometimes that 
she had but one rival in the country, and that was his Scottish 
majesty, the late Duke of Buccleuch. 

Queen Victoria was that rarest of all things, for a ruler, a 
faithful wife, a loving m.Qther and a great-hearted Chris tiati. 



282 THE QUEEN y\N EXAMPLE TO HER PEOPLE. 

woman. Her married life was one long romance, witliont a cloud 
to mar its happiness. Shortly after the birth of the Prince of 
Wales, she wrote in one of her letters of the time regarding her 
domestic life : " It is all perfect ; I feel so happy that I cannot 
believe that it will last long." 

It was the desire of the Dnchess of Kent, the Princess' 
mother, that the alliance was to be the farthest possible from a 
"marriage de convenance." Both prior to and after her acces- 
sion Victoria had seen rather more of her intended husband than 
was usual in such cases. They loved each other. They were 
alike in their tastes and inclinations. Both loved music, rever- 
enced art, and spent a great deal of time together at events of the 
moment, from a sermon at St. Paul's to a ball at Kensington. 

A QUICK COURTSHIP. 

"Each discovered that life would be blissful with, intolerable 
without, the other." The Prince had been at Windsor barely 
four days when the young Queen confided her heart's secret to 
Lord Melbourne. On the morrow (October 15, 1839) she found 
courage to tell her love to him, whom it concerned more than 
any other living man. She offered herself to him, because eti- 
quette forbade the Prince to declare his passion for the greatest 
Queen of English history until she should give him permission 
so to do. 

On February 10, 1840, the marriage was solemnized in the 
Royal Chapel, at St. James'. The chroniclers quite run short of 
adjectives with which to j^^^ise their Queen, yet found the 
space to call Prince Albert "most charming," to speak of his 
"glossy, pale, auburn hair," and to add, with a naivete very 
English : " He carried a bible bound in green velvet, and showed 
that he had only just recovered from the seasickness occasioned 
by his journey from Germ an3\" 

Twenty years of happiness followed, which were not to come 
to an end till 1861, years which were to culminate in the great 
success of 1851, when the first International Exhibition was 
opened at the tken new Crystal Palace. 



THE QUEEN AN EXAMPLE TO HER PEOPLE. 2153 

It was iu this uudertakiiig, which owed its triumph so largely 
to his initiative and energy, that Prince Albert most nearly won 
the affection of the English people. It cannot be said, however, 
that he was ever wholly popular with the masses. Public men 
respected him for the devotion with which he assisted his wife in 
her arduous work of government where he could, and the tact with 
which he stood aside where he could not. But the rank and file' 
never quite forgot nor wholly forgave the accident of his foreign 
birth. 

On this whole period of twenty-one years of married life but 
one judgment can be truly passed — it was ideally happy and con- 
genial. Nor is any small part of Victoria's popularity due to its 
exemplary and charming domesticity, which contrasted so 
agreeably with the private life of the two monarchs who had 
preceded her. 

HISTORY WILL CALL HER A TRUE WOMAN. 

The final estimate which the historian of the future must 
place upon her character is that in a nature of masculine strength 
and feminine patience shone a true womanliness, an invariably 
sound regard for the dictates of common sense and an unremitting 
attention to all the duties of life, whether small or great. 

Around Windsor Castle more than any other of her homes 
Her Majesty's life, from the time of her accession, was centred. 
This was her home par excellence. Buckingham, though no whit 
less gorgeous within, is a pigmy in size compared with the colossal 
pile of Windsor, which dominates the surrounding landscape — 
the rich groves, the houses of the town, the meadows and the 
tranquil Thames — much as would a solitary mountain peak. 
Founded by William the Conqueror, the huge structure has 
grown under the hands of many kings, George IV. spent $5,000,000 
on it. 

Buckingham and Windsor belong to the sovereigns of Eng- 
land, and therefore to the nation ; but Balmoral Castle and 
Osborne House are the Queen's private property. These were Her 
Majesty's country homes. Osborne House^ in one of the loveliest 



284 THE QUEEN AN EXAMPLE TO HER PEOPLE. 

corners of tlie Isle of Wight, was built in 1845 by tbe Queen and 
Prince Albert, and designed to be a liome rather than a palace. 

Ricli woods and meadows, winding vales, and the sea break- 
ing upon a line of gentle beach, these are the characteristics of 
the landscape of which this quiet and stately structure of white 
stone forms the centre. Here Prince Albert indulged to the full 
his passion for landscape gardening, and his tastes as an English 
country gentleman for farming. 

Whatever the likings of the royal family, Her Majesty's 
own preference was for Balmoral Castle, in the highlands of Scot- 
land. To the beautiful hills about Loch-nagar and the Deeside the 
Queen and Prince Albert paid a visit in 1849. ^^ Balmoral, ever 
since her husband's death, she spent the summer or autumn of 
each year. 

ABOARD THE ROYAL YACHT. 

A great deal of the time of the Queen was passed upon the 
ro\^al yacht " Victoria and Albert." On this ship the Queen's 
apartments consisted of a breakfast room, a drawing room and a 
bedroom, the deckhouse being fitted up as a dining room capable 
of holding nearly twenty guests. 

All the furniture and walls of the cabins are covered with a 
pretty rosebud pattern chintz, which is also used as the Queen's 
bed hangings. This pattern of chintz is said to have been chosen 
by the late Prince Consort. The Lords and Ladies in Waiting 
have their dining room on the fore part of the main deck, the 
Ladies in Waiting having their cabins on the starboard side, and 
the Lords in Waiting and the captain of the yacht on the port 
side. 

While at Cimiez, near France, a resort which she visited in 
the winter to escape the English weather, the Queen preserved 
her incognito under the title of the Countess of Balmoral. She 
hired for $11,000 a month a wing of the Excelsior Hotel Regina 
there. There she drove in her favorite donkey carriage. To the 
natives she was always delightfully non ceremonial. 

The Queen will live in history as the most enlightened and 



TKK QUKKN AN EXAMi^LE TO HER PEOPLE. 285 

consistent of constitutional monarchs, as well as being revered as 
a great and noble woman. Those who have been privileged to 
enjo}' her friendship a'd speak of the beautiful blending of 
naivete and kindness with great personal dignity which rendered 
Ikl' so charming in private life. As a ruler she was wise, judicious 
and sagacious, and above everything distinguished by a high 
sense of duty. Reverence deep and lasting lives for her in the 
hearts of the people, and one can but echo those beautiful lines of 
Mrs. Crosland : 

" Victoria ! writ Lirge in lines of light, 

The name through coming ages will remain 
In foremost rank with those great few that blight 
Ne'er tarnished, shining on without a stain." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

How Victoria Prevented War Between America and 

Great Britain. 

IN ALMOST all of the editorial comments liere tliat were occa- 
sioned by tlie death of Queen Victoria, reference was made to 
the peace-inspiring and friendly touch which she gave to the des- 
patch agreed upon by the British Ministers containing a demand 
upon the United States for the surrender of the Confederate 
commissioners, Mason and Slidell, during our Civil War. 

The service which the Queen rendered to the United States 
at a moment of extreme peril, is now a matter of history. It is 
probably the recollection of that friendly act, as well as the spon- 
taneous recognition of the true womanly character of the Queen, 
that call forth such universal tributes of respect and sympathy 
from the whole country after the death of the Qneen. 

There were extremely romantic and, in the true meaning of 
the word, sensational incidents connected with the Queen's change 
of the temper of the de .patch framed by Lord John Russell. 
Iv/erybody familiar with liistory knows that the Hnglish Govern- 
ment, at the head of which was Lord Palmerston, and with Lord 
John Russell as Foreign Secretary, prepared a despatch which 
was to be submitted to our Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, by the 
British Minister at Washington, Lord L3^ons. 

This despatch was undoubtedly deliberately so phrased as to 
compel the United States Government to refuse to heed it with the 
probable inevitable result that we should have been compelled to 
contemplate war with Great Britain at the very time we were 
engaged in our struggle with the Confederate States. So, too, it is 
well known that a copy of this despatch having been laid before the 
Queen, and at a time, too, when she was in utmost distress because 
of the dangerous illness of the Prince Consort with typhoid 
fever, she and the Prince, her husband, went over the despatch, 
286 



HOW VICTORIA PREVENTED WAR. 287 

tlie Queen disapproving of the liarsh language used and tlie 
Prince Consort fully agreeing with her in that opinion. 

He took a pencil, made certain interlineations that changed 
the whole temper of the despatch so that it became a friendl}", 
though regretful message, and nevertheless one which the United. 
States could accept and act upon without any sense of humiliii-- 
tion. This was the last time that the Prince Consort ever held a 
pencil between his fingers, and it was the last act of counsel and 
aid which he gave to his wife, the Queen, in the interest of her 
administration. 

A few da3's after he and she, man and woman, monarch and 
consort, always favoring peace, always of friendl}- dispostion to 
the United States, had thus changed the temper of a war-inviting 
despatch, the Prince Consort was dead. 

THE NOTE PROMPTLY ACCEPTED. 

Mr. Seward, with what seemed to be unexpected and remark- 
able haste, accepted the amended note, consented to give up 
Mason and Slidell, although he was shrewed enough to base in 
part that act upon the precedent and the doctrine which our Gov- 
ernment had established and observed, and which he said he was 
gratified to see had now been adopted by the Government of Great 
Britain. The incident was closed, there never was real danger 
again, during the Civil War, that we should become embroiled 
with Great Britain, although there unquestionabl}^ was at one 
time intrigue between Napoleon III. and the British Cabinet with 
the purpose of declaring the Southern ports open to the commerce 
of Great Britain and France. 

It is now both timely and possible to narrate a little unwritten 
histor}^ which illuminates the action of Secretary Seward in so 
speedily accepting the mildly and kindly tempered note as it had 
been amended by the Queen. 

This information comes at first hand, although the anecdote 
was told long ago b}^ Thurlow Weed, whose part in the incident 
was in the highest degree dramatic. Mr. Weed was then in 
London as one of a special personal embassy, of which Bishop 



288 HOW VICTORIA PPsEVENTED WAR. 

Mcllvaine, of Ohio, aud Ardibisliop John Hughes, of New York, 
were the other members. They were the personal representa- 
tives of President Lincoln, a special embassy appointed by him 
with some high powers, whose chief purpose was to counteract 
the influences and intrigues that had for their object the recog- 
nition of the Southern Confederacy by France and Great Britain. 
Mr. Weed was dwelling temporarily with his daughter in 
lodgings in London, and was kept informed through confidential 
sources of the temper of the British Cabinet toward the Unitedl 
States. He had also learned who his friends, as well as friends 
of the United States, were at court. Gladstone was not one of 
them, but John Bright in the House of Commons was. 

UNFRIENDLY TO OUR COUNTRY. 

With one exception, the British Cabinet was unfriendly to 
the United States, unquestionably reflecting the view of the 
English aristocracy and of the cotton manufacturers. But there 
were some women of influence who were warm friends of the 
United States, and among them was the sister-in-law of Lord 
Palmerston. 

Mr. Weed knew that the note which the British Cabinet was 
preparing for Mr. Seward would be unfriendly, and he, in fact, 
had in a general way some information as to its contents. He 
was very gloomy. There was no Atlantic cable, excepting the 
dead one, that had recorded only one or two messages in 1859. 
He had written to Mr. Seward, advising him to be prepared for 
an unfriendly communication. 

He was sitting in his [parlor one day at noon chatting with 
his daughter, when a card was brought to him. He read upon it 
the name of the sister-in-law of Lord Palmerston, whom he knew 
to be with other women in the court circle of most friendly dis- 
position toward the United States. 

Mr. Weed went immediately to receive his friend. She was 
evidently greatly excited, and as nearly as can be recalled from 
Mr. Weed's version of the interview, she spoke to him immediately 
in these words : 



HOW VICTORIA PREVENTED WAR. 289 

^' Mr. Weed, a mail leaves within an lionr for the United 
States ; do not lose a moment in writing to Mr. vSeward, yonr 
Secretary of State, saying to him that 3^on know that the note 
that will be forwarded to him, throngh Lord Lyons, will be of a 
friendly character, that the Qneen is friendly, though the Cabinet 
is not, and urge upon him to accept, in generous spirit, the sug- 
gestions that are contained in the note, for it gives ample 
opportunity for a friendly understanding and closing of the 
Trent affair." 

Mr. Weed did not wait for further explanation. He trusted 
this woman implicitl3^ He immediately wrote a letter in accord 
with the hint given, took a cab and posted it in time to catch the 
outgoing mail, although he said afterward, with a smile, that it 
was a very close shave. He knew that Mr. Seward would get 
this letter, at least a half week before the official note could reach 
him. That was exactly what happened. When Lord Lyons 
delivered the official note to the Secretar}^ of State, Mr. Seward 
was already prepared for it, and had, in a tentative way, made up 
his mind as to the answer he would make. 

WELL ARMED FOR THE CRISIS. 

It was because he was thus forewarned and counseled by Mr. 
Weed, by reason of the friendly aid given by a lady of the court, 
that Mr. Seward was able to make a reply and to take such action 
as was entirely satisfactory to Great Britain. 

Mr. Weed then went on to say that not the least interesting 
feature of this incident was the manner in which this lady came 
in possession of what was a state secret. She told him herself a 
day or two afterwards. 

Mr. Weed, with his daughter. Miss Harriet Weed, had been 
invited to luncheon at Lord Russell's. After the luncheon Lord 
Russell proposed a walk in the gardens, and he took Miss Weed 
upon his arm, leaving Mr. Weed to escort Lady Russell. The 
other guests followed. Mr. Weed noticed that Lady Russell was 
of slow step and seemed to be disposed to lag. He presumed that 
3he had some purpose in doing this, so that he accomodated his 
19 



290 HOW VICTORIA PREVENTED WAR. 

Step to hers and after a while lie witli Lady Russell were so fat 
behind Lord John Russell and Miss Weed that they were able to 
talk without being overheard. 

With a quick, half-nervous, half-humorous glance at her 
husband, as though measuring the distance between her and 
him and satisfying herself that he could not overhear, Lady Rus- 
sell said in a low tone to Mr. Weed : "I wanted to tell you some- 
thing for your own information. The Queen is your friend, 
don't you worry. I am sure of it, and she has done a most 
friendly act. I want you to let Mr. Lincoln know that he and 
the United States have a friend in the Queen, and that it will be 
no fault of hers if any trouble breaks out between the United 
States and Great Britain." 

Just then Lord Russell turned his head, with a half glance 
behind him, and saw that Lady Russell and Mr. Weed were not 
only lagging, but had stopped. Lord Russell said: "What are 
you saying to Mr. Weed, my dear ; you seem to be telling him 
something that is of interest ? " 

RARE PRESENCE OF MIND. 

Instantly, with a presence of mind and with a power of act- 
ing which Mr. Weed said he had never seen excelled, Lady Rus- 
sell replied in these words: " I was just telling Mr. Weed that 
we were standing upon the precise spot where Henry VIII. 
stood awaiting the report of the execution of his wife, Anne 
Boleyn." 

" Ah, yes, you are actually, Mr. Weed, standing upon that 
sadl}^ historic spot," said Lord Russell. " These were the favorite 
gardens of Henry VIII., and I know that the tradition which 
asssigns that place as the spot where the King stood while they 
were executing his Queen is well authenticated," 

Mr. Weed had no opportunity to do more than express 
thanks which seemed to convey his gratitude that Lady Russell 
should have pointed out to him a historic spot, but which she 
knew well enough were meant far a recognition of her kindness 
in giving to him this important news. 



HOW VICTORIA PREVENTED WAR, 291 

But at the same lunclieon, later in tlie day, Mr. Weed liad 
an opportunit}' to meet Lord Palmerston's sister-in-law and to 
have brief conversation with her. She began it abruptly. " Did 
you Avrite Mr, Seward?" she asked, and Mr. Weed replied, 
"Instantly, and the letter is now upon its way." 

"I am very glad of that," she replied, " and I hope that Mr. 
Seward will be prepared to act upon your suggestion," and then 
she added in a lighter vein with some hint of mischief or humor 
in her manner : 

"I suppose, Mr. Weed, that yon would like to know how I 

was able to find out within an hour after the Queen had seen and 

altered the despatch exactly what she had done. I will tell you, 

but you must promise to keep this a secret, although 3'ou can tell 

Mr. Seward and President Lincoln if you want to when you get 

back to the United States. I was lunching with my sister, who 

you know is Lord Palmerston's wife, and with several friends, all 

ladies, on the da}^ that Lord Palmerston took the despatch to the 

Queen. 

APPREHENDING SERIOUS TROUBLE. 

"We were feeling rather gloomy because we knew in a 
general way that the despatch was not a kindly one, and most of 
us would have deplored any outbreak of trouble between the 
United States and England. By and by, just after wq had finished 
luncheon, Lord Palmerston came into the room, and he threw his 
despatch book upon the table and we saw in an instant that he 
was in a bad temper. He exchanged hardly a word with any of 
us, but passed on through the room. 

"Bvery one of us commented upon his appearance, and as he 
had left us in the morning in good spirits we were satisfied that 
something had happened during his visit to the Queen which had 
soured his temper. I happened to look at the despatch book, and 
I said that I was certain the Queen had been doing something 
with despatches which did not please him. So I suggested in a 
spirit half of curiosity and half of mischief that we open the 
despatch book. Lady Palmerston instantly acted on my sugges- 
tion and there, first of all the despatches, was the note prepared 



202 HOW VICTORIA PREVENTED WAR. 

for Secretary Seward, and on looking it over we saw tlie inter- 
lineation and the changes, and we recognized the Prince Consort's 
handwriting. 

"We knew that this had been done upon the advice, or at least 
with the approval of the Queen, and it only took a glance to show 
us that the Queen was determined to be friendlj^ with the United 
States, and that she had opposed her ministry in this matter. I 
saw that there was time to catch the mail for the United States, 
and I determined to call upon you. I summoned my carriage and 
drove to your lodgings, apprehensive all the while that you might 
be out, and I can't tell you how glad I was to discover that you 
were in, for I felt that if President Lincoln and Mr. Seward were 
forewarned and advised by you they would be ready to accept the 
despatch in the spirit in which the Queen had changed it." 

"And 1 have no doubt that they will do that very thing," 
Mr. Weed replied. And when he next met Lord Palmertson's 
sister-in-law he thanked her in the name of the United States 
for the kindness with which she had supplemented the kindly 
act of the Queen. 

A BISHOP PRAISES VICTORIA. 

Bishop Henry C. Potter, of New York, in commenting on 
the death of Queen Victoria, spoke of the observations he had 
made during his travels on the influence the Queen's personality 
exercised upon the subjects in her great colonial empire. 

" No political bond in the empire," said Bishop Potter, "has 
been stronger than the bond of personal devotion to this beau- 
tiful character and personality. On my trip around the world I 
was struck by the extent of this extreme personal devotion. I 
realized that the influence of the Queen had an attractive and 
cohesive force upon colonial life that was remarkable. Persons 
who had never seen the Queen and had never even been in Eng- 
land were devotedly attached to her. 

" In making an attempt to estimate the character of Britain's 
late Queen I can only repeat the words I used in Calvary Church. 
The two rulers who are most prominent in the history of th^ two 



HOW VICTORIA PREVENTED WAR. 



293 



Knglisli speaking people, Victoria and Washington, were not 
distinguished so much by brilliancy of intellect as by high 
character and devotion to duty. 

" At the time of the Queen's Jubilee, in 1887, the Bishop of 
Long Island and I were in Algiers, and the British residents 
there were preparing to place in the English chapel a tablet of 
marble commemorative of the jubilee. Sir Lambert Play fair, the 
British Consul General, came to us and asked us whether the 
Americans would co-operate with the British in dedicating a tab- 
let to an American consul who had aided the British in putting 
down the Algerian pirates. 

STORY OF A TABLET. 

"Our Consul materially assisted the British in the early part 
of the century, and we obtained subscriptions from the American 
residents for the tablet to commemorate his services. It was 
intended, however, to make the tablet of the Queen a special 
feature in the chapel, while that to the American Consul was to 
occupy a rather inconspicuous place. Sir Lionel Playfair showed 
me the inscription to be placed on the latter tablet, which ran 
somewhat to the effect that it was erected by American citizens 
in connection with the tablet commemorating the Queen's Jubilee. 

" I asked permission to add a few lines to the inscription, 
and, taking my pencil, I wrote :— ' Whether as Queen, wife or 
mother, Victoria has endeared herself to all sorts and conditions 
of men throughout all lands.' 

"When Sir Lionel read the words he was visably affected. 
After a moment's silence he said that the American tablet should 
not be placed at the other end of the chapel, but in the most con- 
spicuous place. The Qufeen was always the friend of our 
country." 

Henry Labouchere in his well known Journal "Truth," 
paid a remarkable tribute to Queen Victoria, a tribute all the more 
remarkable because of his democratic ideas and frank criticisms 
of royalty : 

"Among all her millions of subjects," he said, "there are 



29-4 HOW VICTORIA PREVENTED WAR. 

but few wlio will not mourn for her loss as for one of their own 
household. Nor will the mourners be found among her own sub- 
jects alone. It is not too much too say that never in the history 
of the world has a single death caused such universal grief 

"Alike in happiness and sorrow, she lived a life beyond 
reproach, without thought of self and unreservedly devoted to 
the duties of the hour. Although occupying perhaps the proud- 
est position ever filled by a woman and never wan! iig in a cer- 
tain Queenly dignity, her tastes, habits, demeanor ai^d even her 
dress were marked by the rarest simplicity. 

*'She has been the mother of her people, and as a mother 
she will be mourned. In all the iaffairs of state she manifested 
the same wisdom that inspired her private life, nor did her own 
country alone enjoy the fruits of her experience and sagacity. 
Through her kindred and descendants abroad her influence for 
many years has been felt in continental politics, always on the 
side of peace ; and in at least one crisis she is known to have 
rendered service to the whole of Europe. 

DUE TO OVER^A^ORK AND GRIEF. 

" Her sudden and lamentable breakdov.n was due entirely to 
worry and overwork. She had been greatly disturbed by events 
in South Africa and by domestic griefs." 

" Queen Victoria and Her Influence " was the subject of a 
sermon at the Epiphany Baptist Church, Philadelphia, by 
Rev. Dr. Wayland Hoyt. He said : 

"We are all casting moral shadows, and that is influence. 
Think of the unconscious influence we exert ; but because it is 
so silent we should not think lightly of it. Whoever heard the 
sound of that mighty force that holds the world together ? The 
sunlight that gives life and strength is a silent force. This 
force comes from us often unconsciously, and the force so coming 
is either blighting or blessing mankind. Therefore, how much 
greater our responsibility than we imagine. 

" Behold, what a mighty illustration of the force of this 
influence is set forth in the life of the good Queen who died last 



HOW VICTORIA PREVENTED WAR. 2J.j 

week. Great as tliat reign lias been, it lias been equally miglit}^. 
And it is greater still in tbe mighty unconscious influence it 
shed on humanity. How long she has stood for that beautiful 
family affection. 

" Her love for her home, her home life and her love for him 
who was for so many years her Consort. The unconscious influ- 
ence of that sweet and affectionate wife and mother has blessed 
and brightened millions of homes. How long she stood for sweet 
motherhood. How long she has stood for the sanctity of the 
family. Divorces she never countenanced. How long she has 
stood for devotion of duty and fealty to religion. In her influence 
religion reigned and it has strengthened and held the many mill- 
ions in the faith. 

WILL SHINE THROUGH AGES TO COME. 

"The sweet, holy influence shed by the Queen's life shall 
shine through all the ages to come. In our lives let us strive to 
be what she was, a devoted Christian and one who helped the 
world to something better and more holy." 

Rev. Dr. Alford thus discoursed at Westminster Church on 
" Victoria and Her Reign " : 

"Queen Victoria's possessions were found in every clime, 
and many races are mourning for her. But sorrow for the death 
of such a noble Queen is not confined to her subjects. The whole 
world is draped in mourning. In America we feel it almost as 
though we had lost a beloved President. Our Chief Magistrate 
sends a touching message of sympathy. Congress passes resolu- 
tions of sorrow and adjourns as a mark of respect to the memory 
of the Queen. Flags all over the country are at half mast, pub- 
lic buildings are draped, and memorial services are held in many 
cities. Her death has caused universal grief 

"Victoria as a sovereign had no superiors. She gathered 
around her a galaxy of great men, such as Sir Robert Peel, Lord 
Beaconsfield, and Mr. Gladstone. While we boast of our freedom, 
and that we have no royalty to support, yet Queen Victoria has 
been the central figure of English History, the rallying point of 



296 HOW VICTORIA PREVENTED WAR. 

Britisli patriotism. When the people lost confidence in the 
government the}^ were still loyal and devoted to their noble 
Queen. When the changes came and a new government was 
being organized the Queen tided the country over the dangerous 
transition. 

" Victoria was a wise and discreet sovereign, always laboring 
for the peace and prosperity ^of her country. Her influence 
transcended that of every other sovereign. Her sceptre was like 
the olive branch, and her counsels were always for peace. The 
empire grew enormously during her reign, and the democratic 
idea has through her influence become firmly established." 



CHAPTER XVin. 

The Queen's Later Married Life. 

T^HB Exhibition 3^ear of 185 1, which marked an epoch in the 
^ histor}/' of the nation, marked also the meridian of Queen 
Victoria's married life. There seemed to be scarcely a cloud 
upon her horizon. She rejoiced in the beautiful children 
who clustered at her knee, and in the husband who, after eleven 
vears of wedded life, was more than ever her ideal of all that was 
noble, good, and true ; and it was her further happiness to find 
that the country was beginning to appreciate him too. 

The overwhelming success of the Great Exhibition, Prince 
Albert's own creation, silenced for the present his detractors, and 
Ministers were now eager to tell the Queen that it was a wonder- 
ful conception, and that the Prince was a very remarkable man, 
to which Her Majesty was apt to reply in effect, if not in words, 
"Didn't I tell you so?" 

Shortly after her engagement she had told Lord Melbourne that 
the Prince was perfection, and the old man smiled at a girl-bride's 
enthusiasm ; but the day came when he wrote to the Queen : 
''You said when you were going to be married that he (the 
Prince) was perfection, which I thought a little exaggerated 
then ; but reall}^ I think now that it is in some degree realized." 

Such happiness and content was naturally reflected in the 
Queen's appearance at this period. Her face, which in her girl- 
hood was bright and prett}-, had taken a more enduring charm 
in its softened, thoughtful expression, and those who were about 
her speak of the spiritual serenity of her countenance and the 
lovableness of her disposition. Baron Stockmar, who had 
watched her long and critically, said : " The Queen improves 
greatly. She makes daily advances in discernment and exper- 
ience ; the candor, the love of truth, the fairness, the considerate- 
ness with which she judges men and things are truly delightful, 



298 THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 

and tlie ingenuous self-knowledge witli slie speaks about herself 
is simply charming." 

For fourteen years she had wielded the greatest sceptre in 
the world, and the experience thus gained was showing itself in 
her mastery of the duties and responsilities of her position. The 
young Queen who had resented the downfall of the Melbourne 
Ministry because it removed loved friends from her side had 
learned to regard such changes from the constitutional stand-j 
point, and not from private feeling. 

Landseer, who had many opportunities of judging, told 
Caroline Fox that he thought the Queen's intellect superior to 
any w^oman's in Europe. Her memory was so remarkable that 
he had heard her recall "the exact words of speeches made years 
before, which the speakers themselves had forgotten." The 
Queen had now developed into a sagacious states woman with 
whom Cabinet Ministers had to reckon. 

PUREST COURT IN EUROPE. 

Her Court was at once the purest and one of the most 
splendid in Europe, and the season which followed the opening 
of the Great Exhibition was the most brilliant of any since the 
Queen's accession ; the town literally swarmed with distinguished 
people from all parts of the world. The two chief society events 
were the Queen's Stuart Ball and the City of London Ball. The 
strong dramatic element in the Queen's character led her to adopt 
the ''bal masque" as her favorite form of entertainment. Fancy 
balls illustrating the Plantagenet and Georgian periods had 
already been given, and on the 13th of June, 1851, the famous 
Stuart Ball, to illustrate the time of the Merry Monarch, took 
place at Buckingham Palace. 

The Queen and Prince Albert appeared in superb dresses of' 
the period, and Her Majesty's pretty fair hair was plaited with 
pearls beneath a crown of diamonds. It might be described as a 
"gentlemen's night," for they took the palm for smart dresses ; 
ga}^ cavaliers were they all, with lovelocks, collars and cuffs of 
Honilon lace, and such a profusion of ribbons as had never been 



THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 299 

seen before. They wore them hanging in bunches like a High- 
lander's philibeg, and even their shirt sleeves were bound and 
ornamented with ribbons. 

Of course "the Duke" (Wellington) was there, but he drew 
the line at lovelocks, and wore his own scanty grey hair, which 
made him a marked figure in the crowd, with flowing curls. It is 
interesting to note that Mr. Gladstone figured as Sir Leoline 
Jenkins, Judge in the High Court of Admiralty, and wore " a 
black velvet coat turned up with blue satin, ruffles and collar of 
old point lace, black breeches and stockings, and shoes with 
spreading bows." 

About a month later came the ball at the Guildhall given by 
the Mayor and Corporation to the Queen in celebration of the 
Great Exhibition. Her Majesty drove from Buckingham Palace 
through dense crowds of people literally shouting in every tongue, 
and to see her return more than a million people waited in the 
streets until three o'clock in the morning. The ball itself was 
the most amusing affair possible, many of the guests not having 
the least idea of Court, or even of ordinary good behaviour. 

BURST INTO A FIT OF LAUGHTER. 

A nobleman who was present relates that the ladies passed 
the Queen at a run, and then returned to stare at her. Some of 
the gentlemen passed with their arms round the ladies' waists, 
and others holding them by the hand at arm's length, as if going 
to dance a minuet. But when one man kissed his hand to the 
Queen, her risibility could stand no more, and she went off into 
one of those uncontrollable fits of laughter for which Her Majesty 
was rather famous, and doubtless the Lord Mayor's guests thought 
this the best part of the entertainment. 

In accordance with the spirit of peace and goodwill to all men 
with which the Queen and Prince Albert had initiated the Exhi- 
bition, religious, philanthropic, and scientific institutions received 
a marked share of attention. A monster meeting on behalf of 
the Societ}' for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts 
was held, at which Prince Albeit presided, and made a remark- 



300 THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 

ably fine speech ; and lie was also active on behalf of the British 
Association. At length there came a lull in the routs, meetings, 
and festivities — town was out of town, for the Queen had left for 
the Highlands. 

It was on this occasion that Her Majesty first travelled by 
the Great Northern Railway. She halted at Peterborough to 
receive her ''kind, good master," Bishop Davys. Canon Davys, 
'the son of the Bishop, has told the present writer that Her 
Majesty never visited his father at Peterborough Palace, as some 
writers allege, knowing the simple life which he led ; but she 
never failed to invite him to meet her at the station when she 
passed through Peterborough on her way to Scotland. She 
always received her old tutor in the royal saloon carriage like a 
valued friend, and would show him her children, and talk over 
their futures with him. 

MAKING A SAILOR OF THE PRINCE. 

Canon Davys attended as chaplain on such occasions, and he 
well remembers the Queen bringing forward Prince Alfred (the 
present Duke of Saxe-Coburg), and saying, "We are going to 
make this boy a sailor." Proceeding to Edinburgh, the Queen 
passed a night at Holyrood Palace. It may not be generally 
known that Her Majesty has always shown a sympathetic inter- 
est in the fate of Mary Queen of Scots, and this her first sojourn 
in the Palace so intimately connected with her was full of 
romantic interest, and she told Sir Archibald Alison that she was 
glad that she was descended from Mary Stuart and not from 
Elizabeth Tudor. 

From Holj^rood the royal party proceeded to Balmoral, which 
had now been purchased by Prince Albert, he having previously 
rented it. Here the autumn was passed by the Queen in that 
free, simple manner which she loved — walking, driving, riding, 
sketching, and visiting the cottagers. At first the simple Scotch 
folk were a little disconcerted by the royal visits ; but when one 
of the old women expressed her nervousness to the Queen, Her 
Majesty replied that she hoped that they would not allow any 



THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 301 

feeling of that kind to trouble them, as she was just a woman 
like themselves. 

The following story will illustrate the feeling which speedily 
grew up between the Queen and her poorer neighbors. A man 
from Balmoral was being examined as a witness before the jury, 
when the presiding judge spoke rather sharply to him. "Just 
allow me to tak' time, my lord," said the man ; " I'm no accus- 
tomed to sic a company ;" adding to the bystanders, after he left 
the witness-box, "the Queen has been to my hut, and she speaks 
pleasantly and draws pretty pictures for the bairns. I would 
far rather speak to the Queen than to yon chap in the big wig." 

GREAT THRONG OF SCHOOL CHILDREN. 

After leaving the Highlands the Queen paid her first visit to 
Liverpool and Manchester. The festivities at Liverpool were 
marred by a steady downpour ; but at Manchester the weather 
was more propitious, and an interesting demonstration took place 
in Peel Park, where eighty thousand school children, belonging 
to the various religious denominations, were assembled. The 
"canny" Manchester folk had hit on the right thing to please 
the Queen's motherly heart. Her look of delight as she gazed at 
the children, ranged tier above tier, fourteen deep, was long 
remembered b}^ the, ipeople. 

Continuing lier journey to London, the Queen paid a fare- 
well visit to the Exhibition, where she found Mary Kerlynack, 
the plucky old woman who walked all the way from her native 
Cornwall to see the wonder, still hovering about the doors, and 
appeared ready to cry when the Queen looked at her. The Exhi- 
bition was closed on the 15th of October, the twelfth anniversary 
of Her Majesty's betrothal to Prince Albert. Its success had 
exceeded the most sanguine expectations ; yet a feeling of sadness 
seemed to be in the heart of the Queen and of the nation, a half- 
conscious foreboding that this Peace Festival was to be the herald 
of a darker instead of a brighter time, for already the war-clouds 
were gathering which burst in the Crimean war. 

It was while still in Scotland that the Queen received the 



J^02 THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE, 

news of the death of the Duke of Wellington, which filled her 
with grief " One cannot think of the country without the Duke, 
our immortal hero," she said. A curious coincidence occurred 
on the morning when the Queen received the tidings. She was 
out walking, and suddenly missed the watch given her by the 
Duke, which she always wore. Later in the morning a servant 
returned to the Queen, who was sketching at the Glassalt Shiel, 
to say that the watch was all right at the Castle, but at the same 
time handing Lord Derby's telegram giving the news of the 
Duke's death. 

Her Majesty returned to town to witness the funeral proces- 
sion, which was the most remarkable death pageant of her reign. 
It took place on the i8th of November, 1852, and passed to St. 
Paul's through streets draped in black ; a " masquerade in ink," 
Dickens rather flippantly called it. Duty to the Crown had always 
been the mainspring of Wellington's life, and his devotion to the 
Queen, over whom he had watched with a fatherly pride from her 
earliest years, was quite romantic. 

MISFORTUNES AND BLESSINGS. 

On the 7th of April, 1852, the Queen's eighth child and 
fourth son was born at Buckingham Palace, and received, among 
others, the name of Leopold, after her beloved uncle, the King of 
the Belgians. Only three weeks before this event an alarming 
fire had broken out at Windsor Castle close to the white drawing 
room, where the Queen and Prince were sitting ; but Her Majesty 
displayed her usual intrepidity, and received no harm. A few 
months after her confinement, she had her family " down with the 
measles," and suffered a slight attack herself Happily all quickly 
recovered, and in the succeeding August the royal party visited 
Ireland to open the Exhibition of Art and Industry at Dublin. 

In the autumn of 1853 the Queen was considerably "wor- 
ried" by a revival of the charges of "foreign influence" directed 
against her husband. War was now imminent with Russia, and 
the popular feeling was in its favor ; still, there was hesitation 
in the Cabinet, attributed to the influence "behind the throne." 



THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 303 

The feeling displayed drew from the Queen a letter to Lord 
Aberdeen, in whicli she said that the Prince was one and the 
same Avith herself, and that attacks upon him were the same as 
attacks upon the throne. When Parliament met in January, 
1854, the calumnies against the Prince were refuted in both 
Houses, and for the first time the right of the Prince to advise 
the sovereign — his wife — was officially accepted. 

Shortly after this dark cloud had been lifted, the Queen kept 
the fourteenth anniversary of her marriage at Windsor, when the 
royal children performed a Masque of the Seasons, which the 
Baroness Bunsen, who was present, describes as being a wonder- 
fully prett}^ sight. Spring was represented by Princess Alice, 
Summer by the Princess Royal, Autumn by Prince Alfred, and 
Winter by the Prince of Wales. A separate tableau was given 
for each season, and the children recited suitable verses from 
Thomson's "Seasons." As a finale, all the seasons stood in a 
group, while the little Princess Helena, dressed as Britannia, 
pronounced a blessing on their parents. 

A CONSCIENTIOUS MOTHER. 

The Queen's elder children were now entering upon their 
teens, and it was a conscientious duty with her that they should 
be rightly trained for their high position. When some years 
previously Mr. Birch had been appointed tutor to the Prince of 
Wales, the Queen wrote: "It is an important step, and God's 
blessing be upon it ; for upon the good education of princes, and 
especially those who are destined to govern, the welfare of the 
world, in these days, very greatly depends." The instruction 
which she had given for the religious training of the Princess 
Royal was followed in the case of all the royal children. 

" I am quite clear," wrote the Queen in a memorandum, 
that " she should have great reverence for God and religion, but 
that she should have the feeling of devotion and love which our 
heavenly Father encourages His earthly children to have for 
Him, and not one of fear and trembling ; and that the thoughts of 
death and an after life should not be represented in an alarming 



304 THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 

and forbidding view, and tliat slie should be made to know as j^et 
no difference of creeds, and not tbink that sbe can onh- pray on 
ber knees, or tbat tbose wbo do not kneel are less fervent and 
devout in tbeir prayers." 

Her Majest}'-, indeed, kept tbe religious instruction of ber 
cbildren largely in ber own bands. A story is told that wben 
tbe Arcbdeacon of London was catecbising tbe young Princes 
be said, " Your governess deserves great credit for instructing 
you so tborougbly." At wbicb tbe boys piped out, " Ob, but it is 
mamma wbo teacbes us our Catecbism." 

It is not perbaps generally known tbat tbe Queen occasion- 
ally taught a Bible-class for tbe cbildren of those in attendance 
at Buckingham Palace, and tbat, it having come to ber knowledge 
tbat tbe cbildren of the servants and attendants at the Palace 
were without the means for ordinary instruction, she commanded 
that a school should be started for them in Palace Street, Pimlico, 
and herself showed tbe greatest interest in its management. 

ENCOURAGED TO FOLLOW THEIR OWN TASTES. 

Her Majesty encouraged her own boys to choose tbeir pro- 
fession wben they were quite young, and had them educated in 
accordance with tbeir choice, excepting of course the Prince of 
Wales, wbo was born to wear tbe purple, and bad no option in 
tbe matter. His training and education were, however, a consci- 
entious study with bis parents, wbo placed him successively 
under tbe care of Mr. Birch and Mr. Gibbs, and when in 1859, 
he entered Cambridge University, General the Hon. Robert 
Bruce, brother of Lord Elgin, accompanied him as "Governor." 

Tbe attachment of " Princey," as the heir to tbe throne was 
frequently called by tbe Queen's ladies, to his tutors was quite 
touching. Lady Canning writes from Windsor Castle in June, 
1852 : " Mr. Birch [the tutor] left yesterday. It has been a ter- 
rible sorrow to tbe Prince of Wales, wbo has done no end of 
touching things since he heard tbat he was to lose him, three 
weeks ago. He is such an affectionate, dear little boy ; bis little 
notes and presents, were really moving." 



THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 305 

Prince Alfred early expressed his wish to be a sailor, and he 
was sent from home at twelve years of age to pursue his studies 
in a separate establishment, at the Royal Lodge, Windsor Park, 
under the care of Lieutenant Cowell, a young of&cer of engineers, 
afterwards Sir John Cowell, K. C. B., Master of Her Majesty's 
Household; later on, the sailor-Prince had an establishment at 
Alverbank, near Portsmouth, for the greater convenience of his 
naval studies. Prince Arthur decided to be a soldier, and began 
his training when nine years of age, under Captain Blphinstone, 
of the Engineers, afterwards Sir Howard Blphinstone. Thus the 
education of the three elder Princes was settled. 

Great grief was felt by the Queen and Prince Albert, when 
in 185 1, Lady Lyttelton retired from the post of governess to the 
royal children. She was succeeded by Lad}^ Caroline Barrington, 
sister of Earl Grey, who held the important position for twenty- 
four years, and was greatly beloved by the young Princesses. 

A STRONG CHARACTER. 

The Princess Royal became very remarkable as a girl as she 
had been clever as a child, and the constant companionship of her 
scholarly father developed her natural intellect to an astonishing 
degree. She was more of a woman at fifteen than most girls are 
at twenty. Princess Alice inherited her mother's affectionate 
nature and musical voice, and we find on festive occasions in the 
royal household that "Alice" did the recitations and speechifying. 

A girl of such strong personality as the Princess Royal 
needed the curb occasionally, and how promptly the royal 
mother applied it is illustrated by the following story. When 
about thirteen years old the Princess accompanied her mother 
to a military review, and seemed disposed, as she sat in the car- 
riage, to be a little coquettish with some of the young ofiicers of 
the escort. 

The Queen gave her some warning looks without avail, and 

presently the young Princess dangled her handkerchief over the 

side of the carriage and dropped it — evidently for the purpose. 

There Avas an immediate rush of young officers to pick it up ; 
20 



306 THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 

but tte royal motTier bid tbe gentlemen desist from their gallant 
intention, and turning to poor unfortunate " Vicky," said in a 
stern voice, " Now, my daiigliter, pick up your handkercbief 
yourself." Tbere was no help for it ; tbe footman let down tbe 
steps, and tbe young Princess did ber mother's bidding, witb flam- 
ing ckeeks and a saucy toss of tbe bead, tbougb. 

Anotber time it was " Princey " wbo received a wbolesome 
lesson. He was riding in company witb bis father, and for 
once forgot his usual politeness, and neglected to acknowledge the 
salute of a passer-by. Prince Albert observing it said, " Now, 
my son, go back and return that man's bow," which he accord- 
ingly did. One might go on multiplying these stories, but suffi- 
cient has been said to show that the Queen's children were taught 
respectful obedience to their parents and elders in a manner not 
common to-day. 

ONE GREAT \A/'AR IN EACH REIGN. 

It always seems to have been the fate of English queens to 
have one important war. Queen Elizabeth fought the Spaniard 
and vanquished the Armada, Mary had her disastrous war with 
the French and lost Calais, Queen Anne's reign was famous for 
the victories of Marlborough, and Victoria had the Crimean war. 
It was on the 28th of February, 1854, that Her Majesty signed a 
formal declaration of war with Russia. In doing so she acted 
from the strongest sense of duty. 

The nation had made up its mind that Russian aggressions 
in the East must be checked, and the war-cry in the country was 
too strong to be disregarded. It is quite evident that the Queen 
and Prince Consort would have avoided the contest if they could 
have found an honorable means of doing so. In reply to the 
King of Prussia, who wrote at the eleventh hour urging peace, 
the Queen sent a letter full of patriotic spirit, and ending with 
the famous quotation : 

" Beware of entrance to a quarrel ; but being in, 
Bear it, that the opposer may beware of thee." 



THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 36? 

For the next two years her life was passed in consuming 
anxiet}^ regarding this campaign. First she bid God-speed to her 
gallant troops as the}^ started for the seat of war ; then came the 
farewell to the magnificent war fleet as it sailed for the Baltic 
under command of Sir Charles Napier, and the launching and 
christening of the " Royal Albert," a monster ironclad sent to the 
Crimea with reinforcements after the battle of Inkerniann. With 
throbbing heart the Queen received the tidings of the battles of 
Alva, Inkermann, Balaclava, and the Charge of the Light Brigade ; 
and as the cry of the widow and the orphan began to be heard in 
the land, she and the Prince felt that something must be done to 
aid the distressed. 

PRINCE CONSORT'S PATRIOTIC FUND. 

In October, 1854, the Patriotic Fund, headed by the Prince Con- 
sort, was started. Subscriptions poured in from every part of the 
empire, and all over England, concerts, theatricals, and entertain- 
ments were held to aid the good work. By March, 1855, the 
Fund had reached the sum of one million. The royal children 
drew and painted pictures, which were exhibited at Burlington 
House, and sold in aid of the Fund. The " Battle Field," painted 
by the clever Princess Ro3-al, brought 250 guineas; "Bertie's" 
production realized only 55 guineas — rather trying for a boy to be 
so far behind his sister — while the drawings of the younger chil- 
dren brought 30 guineas apiece. 

The Queen and her ladies spent much of their time in knit- 
ting and sewing garments for the soldiers and preparing band- 
ages, while "Vicky "and "Alice," with all the enthusiasm of 
young girls, longed and even planned to go out and join Florence 
Nightingale and her noble band of nurses at Scutari. In fact, 
the sympathy and enthusiasm of the royal children were stirred 
to the highest pitch, and we find one of the young Princes say- 
ing to Lord Cardigan, when he returned to Windsor to visit Her 
Majesty, "Do hurry back and take Sebastopol, or else it will kill 
mamma." 

Frequent letters were written by the Queen to the seat of 



308 THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LILE. 

war, expressing concern at the gross mismanagement of the com- 
missariat in the early part of the campaign, and vehementh^ urg- 
ing that every effort shonld be made to save the brave men from 
privation. During a war debate in Parliament in January, 1855, 
Mr. Augustus Stafford thrilled his hearers by telling them that 
he had seen a wounded man in the hospitel, after hearing one of 
the Queen's sympathetic letters read, propose her health in a 
glass of bark and quinine. 

A SOLDIER'S LOYAL TOAST. 

"It is a bitter cup for a loyal toast," said Mr. Stafford, to 
to which the man replied, "Yes ; and but for the words of the 
Queen I could not have got it down." In opening Parliament 
during this period of national sorrow, for the first timethe Queen's 
silvery accents failed her, and the speech from the throne was 
read by her in broken accents and with tears streaming down her 
face. " It was a sight never to be forgotten," says one who was 
present; " for the whole assembly was convulsed with grief ; there 
was scarcely one present who had not the loss of a dear one to 
mourn." 

When the melancholy contingents of wounded began to return 
home, the Queen constantly visited the sufferers in the military 
hospitals ; and it having occurred to har that the men A¥Ould 
value a token of regard from her own hands, a most pathetic and 
interesting ceremony took place on the i8th of May, 1855, at the 
Horse Guards, when she presented war medals to the officers and 
men disabled or home on sick leave. Sad-eyed indeed was the 
Queen as they filed past her with gaunt forms, pallid faces, and 
maimed and disabled bodies ; but it was beautiful to see how the 
faces of the men brightened as she spoke kind and grateful words 
to them. 

An amusing story is told by the Earl of Malmesbury of the 
"density" of the Minister for War, Lord Panmure, on this occa- 
sion. " Was the Queen touched? " asked a lady of him, referring 
to the pathetic spectacle. "Bless my soul, no!" was the reply; 
" she had a brass railing before her, and no one could touch her." 



THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 



309 



"Was slie moved, I mean?" persisted tlie lady. "Moved!" 
answered Lord Panmnre ; " slie had no occasion to move." 

The seqnel to this lack of intelligence on the part of the 
Minister of War, may be found in the fact that tlie Queen's quick 
eyes had detected many flaws in the management of the military 
hospitals during her visits, and she had addressed remonstrances 
to Lord Panmnre on the subject. It was owing to tiie Queen's 
efforts that, after the war, the beautiful military hospital at 
Netley was built. 

In connection with the distribution of the Crimean war 
medals, a story is told of an old lady who kept the Swiss Cottage 
on the Duke of Bedford's estate at Endsleigh. When Her 
Majesty was paying a visit to the Cottage, the old lady thought, 
"Now's my chance,'' and plucking up heart, she said, "Please, 
your Majesty, ma'am, I had a son, a faithful subject of yom 
Majesty, and he was killed in your wars out in the Crimea, and 
I wants his medal." "And you shall have it," replied the Queen, 
with a soft voice and melting eye, as she took the old woman's 

SOVEREIGNS WHO WERE FRIENDS. 

The friendly alliance entered into between France and Eng- 
land during the Crimean war was the occasion of an interchange 
of visits between the sovereigns. The Emperor Napoleon, with 
his lovely young Empress, Eugenie, visited Windsor in April, 
1855, and a few months later the Queen aud Prince Albert 
returned the visit, taking the Prince of Wales and the Princess 
Royal along with them. A series of brilliant entertainments 
took place in Paris, and the friendship between the Queen and 
the amiable and lovely Eugenie, which lasted until the Queen's 

death. 

Often one fancies that the two royal widows sadly talked 
together of those bright, happy times. The two children enjoyed 
their visit to Paris immensely, and the Prince of Wales conceived 
the brilliant idea that he and his sister might remain behind and 
continue the festivities after the departure of their parents. The 
Empress made the usual reply which hostesses ^ive to importunate 



310 THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LILE. 

juveniles — that their "papa and mamma would not be able to 
spare them," to which " Bertie " replied, " Oh, they can do without 
us ; there are six more at home." 

Shortly after the return of the Queen from France, the joy 
bells rang through the land that at length Sebastopol had fallen, 
and the war was practically at an end. 

The years 1856-57 were spent largely by the Queen amongst 
the returning warriors. It was a season of military reviews and 
decorations, and the enthusiasm of the troops at Aldershot, as 
Her Majesty rode down the lines on her chestnut charger in the 
uniform of a field marshal, draped below the waist with a dark 
blue skirt, was unbounded ; and when on another occasion she 
delivered a stirring speech to the soldiers from her carriage, the 
scene of excitement beggars description — "bearskins and shakos 
were thrown into the air, dragoons waved their sabres, and shouts 
rang all down the lines." 

MISS NIGHTINGALE AT THE CASTLE. 

The Queen showed her appreciation of Miss Nightingale's 
noble work by inviting her to Balmoral immediately after she 
had settled in the newly built castle. On the 26th of June, 1857, 
came the crowning act of the Queen in the Crimean period, when 
she distributed the Victoria Crosses, a badge for valor specially 
struck at this time, in Hyde Park to those who had performed 
special acts of bravery during the war. It was at this time of wide 
distribution of honors that Her Majesty conferred upon her noble 
husband the title of Prince Consort. 

Her Majesty's ninth, and youngest child, the Princess Bea- 
trice, was born on the 14th of April, 1857, ^^^ ^^ sooner does one 
cease to record this, the last birth in the royal household, than it 
becomes the pleasing duty to start with the weddings. One of 
the first acts of the Queen, when she had recovered from her con- 
finement, was to announce to Parliament the formal betrothal of 
her daughter, the Princess Royal, to Prince Frederick William of 
Prussia, eldest son of the Prince and Princess of Prussia, the 
direct heir to the throne, 



THE OUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 311 

Prince Fritz had visited Windsor during the Great Exhibi- 
tion in 185 1, and had greatly admired the young Princess at that 
time. When he returned in 1855, he found her "woman grown," 
chough only fifteen years of age, and as they rode together one 
day among the hills of Balmoral, he declared his love by present- 
ing the " Rose of England" with a spra}^ of white heather. The 
Queen and Prince Albert gave their consent to the betrothal on 
condition that it was regarded, for the present, as 11 private family 
matter, the extreme 3'outh of the Princess rendering anything 
more public undesirable, and the Queen felt that the matter should 
not take place until her daughter had attained her seventeenth 

year. 

THE GREAT MUTINY IN INDIA. 

The two years which intervened before the Princess's mar- 
riage were clouded by the terrible incidents of the Indian mutiny, 
which were a cause of continued anxiety to the Queen, and led to 
a "little skirmish" with Lord Palmerston. In June, 1857, ^^^ 
Queen was not satisfied that the Government were making suifi- 
ciently vigorous efforts to meet the crisis, and told Palmerston 
what she would have done had she been in the House of Com- 
mons, to w^hich Lord Palmerston replied : " It is fortunate for 
those from whose opinion your Majesty differs that your Majesty 
is not in the House of Commons, for they would have had to 
encounter a formidable opponent." 

We find Palmerston frequentl}^ speaking at this period of the 
Queen's " sagacity." A few days before the marriage of her 
daughter the Queen addressed a beautiful letter to Sir Colin 
Campbell, the hero of Lucknow, and a pathetic picture of the 
" Relief of Lucknow " was one of the last pieces of work done by 
the Princess Royal before her marriage. 

This, the first wedding in the Queen's family, was attended 
with all the little home touches which made Her Majesty's life so 
charming. She and the Prince themselves arranged the bride's 
presents to be viewed by their friends. The details of the mar- 
riage ceremony were identical with those of the Queen's own 
wedding, ^he calls it the "second most eventful day" in her 



312 THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 

life, and said tliat she felt as if slie were " being married over 
again herself" 

The very youthful bride looked charming in her white silk 
and orange blossoms, with the famous myrtle in her bouquet, a 
shoot of which, planted at Osborne, has grown into a tree which 
supplies the royal brides of the present time. The marriage was 
celebrated, like the Queen's, at the Chapel Royal, St. James's 
Palace, and took place on the 25th of January, 1858. A pretty 
little scene was enacted when, as the bride advanced to the altar, 
the bridegroom knelt to kiss her hand. 

Unlike her royal mother, the young Princess had to leave 
home and kindred for a foreign land, and the parting, after the 
brief honeymoon at Windsor, was a heart-breaking one for all. 
The Princess had said to her mother, " I think it will kill me to 
say good-bye to papa ;" and when the time came for her to sail 
for Germany, the poor young bride — clever, wilful, independent 
"Vicky" of the old days — was quite broken down. 

A SAD SEPARATION, 

The Queen did not trust herself to see her daughter off, and 
those who saw the Prince Consort's white, rigid face as he took 
his last look at the departing vessel have told the present writer 
that they never can forget its look of sadness. 

When the Princess was saying good-bye to the old people 
about Balmoral, one old "body" up and spoke her mind to the 
Queen, and expressed her opinion that the Princess Royal was as 
sorry to leave as they were to part with her ; then suddenly recol- 
lecting herself, she apologized, saying, "I mean no harm, but I 
always say just what I think, not what is fut" (fit). The Queen's 
comment on the incident was: "Dear old lady, she is such a 
pleasant person." Her Majesty dislikes, above everything, 
cringing servility, and delights in those honest, candid people, 
who say what they think, not what is " fut.'' 

In the following August the Queen and Prince Consort 
visited their daughter in her new home, and the Queen was 
rejoiced to find her " quite the old Vicky still ;" but in taking 



THE QUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 313 

leave of her after a pleasant stay in Germany, the royal mother 
felt sad that it was impossible for her to return again to the 
young Princess at that critical time when " every other mother 
goes to her child." 

On the 27th of January, 1859, the Princess Frederick Wil- 
liam was confined of a son, the present Emperor William, and 
Her Majesty found herself at thirty-nine with the ancient dignity 
"grandmamma" conferred upon her. In the September of i860 
the Queen and Prince spent some time in Coburg, and were 
visited by "Vicky" and "Fritz" and the wonderful "baby Wil- 
liam," who was duly brought to grandmamma's room every 
morning, and was pronounced " such a darling." 

A SORE BEREAVEMENT. 

But the time has come when the shadow of death encom- 
passed the life of the beloved Queen. Her mother, the Duchess 
of Kent, had been for some time in declining health, and in 
March of 186 1, the Queen was summoned to Frogmore, and 
found her in a dying condition. She passed peacefully away, 
solaced by the daughter Avhom she had reared Avith unsurpassed 
love and care, and to whom her death came as the first great 
grief in life. 

"What a blessed end!" the Queen writes in her diary; 
" her gentle spirit at rest her sufferings over ! But I — I, 
wretched child — who had lost the mother I so tenderly loved, 
from whom for these forty-one years I had never been parted 
except for a few weeks — what was my case ? My childhood — 
everything seemed to crowd upon me at once. I seemed to have 
lived through a life, to have become old !" 

The Queen was much depressed in ;the months which fol- 
lowed, despite the loving sympathy of her husband and children ; 
and indeed she had not recovered her spirits when ten months 
later came a loss which made all others trivial. For the last ten 
years the Health of the Prince Censort had been unsatisfactory ; 
the great mental strain Avhich he underwent in organizing the 
Exhibition of 183 1, followed by the hard work and constant aux. 



314 THE OUEEN'S LATER MARRIED LIFE. 

iety attendant on tlie Crimean war and the Indian mutiny, liad 
weakened his constitution, and when in December of 1861 he was 
seized with an attack of typhoid fever, he had no strength to resist 
the disease. 

The agonized suspense of his wife during the fortnight which 
followed his seizure was in proportion to the absorbing and pas-| 
sionate love she had borne him throughout the twenty-one years 
of their wedded life. When hope was abandoned and the doctors 
could no longer conceal their fears from her, the Queen writes : 
" I went to my room, and felt as if my heart must break." Then 
came a change in the Prince's condition, and the wife's heart beat 
fast with hope ; but it was only for a few hours. 

As the day advanced it became evident that the Prince was 
sinking. Bending over him the Queen whispered, '"Tis your 
own little wife," and he turned his head and kissed her. After 
ten o'clock, on the fatal 14th of December, came the end, and the 
great and good Prince, who had worn, through good report and 
ill, " the white flower of a blameless life," passed to his reward, 
and the Crown was left a "lonely splendor." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The Castle in the Highlands. 

AN official of tHe Queen's household has fully described her 
^~^ home life in the following pages. He lifts the curtain and 
shows us the Queen as she was at her own fireside. 

Balmoral Castle, the Scottish home of Queen Victoria, is in 
the Bast Highlands, in the Valley of the Dee. The Queen and 
Prince Consort first came here in 1848, at the recommendation of 
their physician, Sir James Clark. The neighborhood of Balmoral 
is esteemed the driest and healthiest in Scotland. It is nine hun- 
dred feet above sea level. The air is pure and bracing, the soil 
gravell}^, and there is less rain than in the West Highlands. 

It is a beautiful district, whether in spring, when the birches 
are in tender leaf and the broom bursting into yellow bloom ; or 
in summer, when the hills are pink with heather ; or in 
autumn, the Queen's favorite season here, when there is an inde- 
scribable glory upon hill and valley, of golden birch, purpling 
heather, scarlet rowan, and brown bracken. Millais says Scot- 
land is like a wet pebble ; a Scotch pebble he means, with its 
colors deepened and enriched by moisture. And this is pre-emi- 
nently true of Deeside. The district has its wilder aspects, too. 
It is a land of glens and rushing streams, of corries and crags. 

The Castle stands upon a "haugh" or open space by the 
Dee, the 'hills receding for background. Byron's " Dark Loch- 
nagar," 3800 feet high, closes the vista to the south. Byron 
passed some time in this neighborhood when a boy, and Loch- 
nagar and Dee's "rushing tide" are met with more than once in 
his poems. 

The picturesque beauty of the Scottish Highlands is justly 
celebrated, and in this particular locality the scenery has a peculiar 
charm for all visitors. 

Both the Queen and the Prince were impressed with the 

315 



316 THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 

beauty of Balmoral, and, above all, witb its solitude and peace, 
after tbe rush of Court life in London and Windsor. The Prince 
rejoiced especially in the deer that came " stealthily about the 
house," and with his usual promptitude had a shot at them on 
the third day after their arrival. They made the ascent of Loch- 
nagar that year, partly on ponies, partly on foot, and it is said 
were lost some hours in a thick mist. The mountain has a long 
sharp back, ending in a peak, as seen from the east, and in a nook 
by this peak they ate their luncheon. This was the first of many 
ascents. 

In 1852, the Prince bought the estate for ^31,500, ($157,500). 
Later on he purchased Birkhall, in its immediate vicinity, for 
the Prince of Wales, who resided there at one time with his tutor. 
The Prince Consort made extensive plantings on the Birkhall 
estate for a deer forest, and intended ultimately to build a larger 
house for his son. But death, as he so often does, cut short 
these plans, and the estate has since been bought of the Prince 
of Wales by the Queen. 

A ROMANTIC REGION. 

Abergeldie, which lies between the two other estates, is held 
by lease. It has long been the property of the Gordons. Together 
with the great forest of Balloch Buie, a still more recent purchase, 
the whole comprises a little over 40,000 acres. The estate extends 
along the Dee for twelve miles. A public road once ran up the 
valley on both sides of the river. But after Balmoral became the 
property of Prince Albert the road was closed upon the south 
side, traf&c being diverted to the north bank by a bridge just by 
the castle gate. 

On the first arrival of the Royal Family they drove from 
Aberdeen, a distance of fifty miles, having come by sea to that 
point. But soon a railway began to creep up the valley by 
degrees, threatening destruction to their seclusion, and was at last 
stopped at Ballater, eight miles distant, by Act of Parliament. 
There was an old castle on the estate at that time, a picturesque 
pld affair, as extant engravings show, which had grown up into its 



THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLAND?^. 



;^17 



more lordly condition from a farmhouse. This proved quite inad- 
equate for the family, however, and in 1853 the corner-stone of a 
new house was laid. In 1855 it was ready for partial occupancy. 
When the Queen and Prince entered it to take possession, an old 
shoe was thrown in after them for good luck, in accordance with 
au old Hi o-h land custom. 




SCENE IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. 

Several incidents which took place during the building of the 
Castle illustrate the considerateness of the Prince Consort. The 
Crimean war broke out, with the usual result of an advance in the 
price of all merchandise, including building materials. This was, 
of course, very unfortunate for the builder, who had made his 
contract upon the basis of previous prices. But Prince Albert 
came to his relief by taking the contract off his hands, and paying 
him a good salary as overseer of the works, at the same time that 
he paid full wages to the workmen. 

At another epoch in the building a fire broke out, threatening 



3lS THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 

destruction to all tliat liad been accomplislied. It was manfully 
fought, Prince Albert helping to pass the buckets on from the 
river, and at last subdued, though not before it had burned the 
workshops and consumed the workmen's tools, together Avith the 
little sums of money put by from their wages in their chests. 
Prince Albert afterwards ascertained the amount of these sums, 
and made up their loss to the men. 

The Castle is of light gray granite of a fine quality, and of 
the old Scotch baronial architecture, with round turrets and 
extinguisher tops, and with crow-stepped gables. Its great tower 
is a hundred feet high ; upon it is a clock which gives the time to 
the neighborhood, and a flagstaff, from which the Royal Standard 
floats when the Queen is in residence. Above the main or 
Queen's entrance are the Royal Arms in high relief Shields 
carved with various insignia, conspicuous among them the three 
feathers of the Prince of Wales, adorn the south front ; the carving 
on these is touched up with gilt. 

PANELS WITH RICH DESIGNS. 

Below the windows of the Queen's sitting-room to the west, 
are inserted panels of white marble, bearing bas-reliefs of St. 
Hubert and the Deer, St. George and the Dragon, and St. 
Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. As you look at the Castle 
from the north bank, its towers seem to rise out of a mass of 
forest trees. But it is really very open about it, with pleasure- 
grounds to the west and north, sloping to the Dee. 

When Prince Albert was making his selection of the site, he 
fixed upon that which would receive the sun's rays the greater 
part of the day. Taken altogether, it impresses you as a stately 
and beautiful home. But beautiful as it is by day, it takes en a 
more marked loveliness under the magic play of the moonlight, 
with its less clearly defined shadows. The Castle accommodates 
about one hundred and thirty. 

The Dee in the more immediate vicinity is bordered by large 
trees, under which runs a footpath. So near is the house to the 
river, that from any part of it, if the windows be open, the rush 



THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 319 

of its waters is heard. A granite slab upon the lawn indicates 
the high-water mark of the Dee, at the time of the June spate in 
1872, when two little children fell into a burn which enters the 
Dee just above Balmoral, and, being swept into the larger stream, 
were drowned; a tragic incident that called out the active sympa- 
thies of Her Majest3^ Dee, like all mountain streams, is as 
ruthless in flood as he is mild and placable in ebb, though never 
wholly to be trusted, with his swift currents that drop twenty-five 
feet to the mile in the upper strath. 

Looking from the drawing-room windows, the eye passes 
over flower-beds and terraces, over the Dee and forests beyond, on 
up the strath, where hill overlaps hill, to the Braes o' Mar. 
This is the view seen from the Queen's own sitting-room, and 
was one very dear to Her Majesty. In the flower-beds to the 
west stands the eagle fountain, given to the Queen by William I. 
of Germany, then King of Prussia only. 

RESIDENCE LOVED BY THE QUEEN. 

Little wonder is it that the Queen loved Balmoral best of all 
her residences. Its winning beauty would explain that, even 
aside from the fact that house and grounds are the work of the 
Prince Consort, formed in accordance with his taste, and therefore 
doubly dear. He left this property to the Queen in his will, and 
but little change has taken place in it since his death. Even 
when necessary additions have been made, they have been so 
arranged as not to interfere with the general plan. The house 
was built at first for a residence of six weeks or so in the autumn — 
as a hunting-lodge. And as such it was used until the Prince's 
death. 

In the spring following Prince Albert's death, the Queen 
came for the first time at that season — arriving on May Day. 
After that time she came regularly in May, reaching there before 
her birthday. May 24th. She remained until into June, and 
returned again in August in time for the Prince Consort's birth- 
day, which fell on the 26th. She remained until the middle of 
November. 



320 • TME castle in the HIGHLANDS. 

Strangers were admitted to Balmoral only in tlie absence of 
the Queen and by order. Carriages of such must be left outside 
tlie gate, where a policeman is always stationed. A short walk 
by a perfectly-kept carriageway, or by equally well-cared for paths, 
brings them to the Castle, which thej^ enter by the equerries' door 
in the great tower, the same at which all those call who come to 
enter their names in the visitors' book which is kept there. The 
main entrance is reserved for the Queen and invited guests. 
Consider yourself as of the latter, and, as you step in, you find 
yourself in a flagged hall of moderate size and good proportions. 
A row of stags' heads confronts you from the walls. Added to 
these is a boar's head, the original owner of which was shot by 
Prince Albert in Germany. Just under the boar's head, upon a 
table, stands a marble bust of the Queen (1867). It is a head of 
extreme dignit}^, though somewhat sad in expression. 

AN OLD SCOTTISH KING. 

Opposite the entrance, in a recess, is a bronze figure, life- 
size, of Malcolm Caenmore, " MLVIL— MXCIII." 

Why Malcolm, son of the murdered Duncan, was chosen out 
of all the Scotch kings for a place here, I have not sufiicient 
knowledge of Scotch history to say. Perhaps because he at times 
resided in this valley, having a castle — or what passed for a castle 
in those days — on an artificial island in Loch Kinnord, and not far 
from the fortification known to-day as the Peel Bog, escaping 
from which, Macbeth met his fate at the hands of Macduff. 

However that may be, here he is, and on each side of him, 
under glass, are the old colors of the 79th Highlanderb, mere frag- 
ments, torn with shot, and blackened and begrimed with powder 
and the dust of battle. In 1873, Her Maj esty presented the regi- 
ment with new colors, and the old were given to her. They were 
in the Crimean War and at the taking of Lucknow in the Indian 
Mutiny. The presentation took place in the Isle of Wight, and 
after that the title of "The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders" 
was conferred upon the regiment, and the facings of the uniforms 
were changed from yellow to the Royal blue. 



THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. S21 

The fire irons in the hall were a birthday gift to the Queen 
from the Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lome ; they are her 
own design, the conventionalised Scotch thistle. The sturdy fire 
dogs seem well fitted to bear up the logs of which the fire is always 
made. A clock, the usual weather glass, and a pretty lantern, 
complete the furnishings of the hall. From the hall you pass 
into a corridor running across the Castle from north to south. 
Here again are stags' head upon the walls, with gilt lettering 
attached to each telling when and by whom the stag was shot. 

In the arch formed by the staircase stands the marble statue, 
life-size, of Prince x^lbert, by Theed. He is in Highland shooting 
dress, kilt, plaid, and pouch. In one hand he holds his rifle, the 
other rests upon his collie's head. His Glengarry cap, with its 
eagle feather, lies at his feet beside a clump of crumpled bracken. 
Upon the pedestal is cut : 

ALBERT, 

PRINCE CONSORT, 

1861. 

His life sprang from a deep inner sympathy with God's will, 
And therefore with all that is true, beautiful and good. 

A little way up the staircase, in a recess, is a bronze bust of 
the late Emperor Frederick of Germany. A martial head, in 
expression quite different from Prince Albert's more introspective 
look. His memory is closely linked with Balmoral, for it was 
here that he and the Princess Royal were betrothed. 

Anecdotes of the Emperor Frederick yet survive here. At 
the time of their betrothal, the two used often to walk down to 
that very pretty part of the estate where most of the cottages cluster, 
and the little cottage girls, as in duty bound, dropped their lowest 
courtesies to the princely pair. Thereupon the tall young man, 
in a spirit of mischief not unusual in his species, would gravely 
drop a courtesy in return, and then walk away laughing 
heartily. 

"I mind it well," says one of the little lassies now a woman. 

"I mind just how I felt. I thought it was too bad of him to 
21 



322 THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 

make fun of our courtesies tHat way. And I did not know 
whether to laugh or be angry." 

A young man recalls the soldierly figure and frank, straight- 
forward speech of the young Crown Prince. " My brother and I 
met him one time when he was staying here, and, of course, we 
took off our caps. ' Put on your caps, boys, you'll take cold,' said 
he." The Crown Princess, the "Empress Frederick," was much 
attached to Balmoral. In 1857, just before her marriage, the 
Prince Consort wrote: "The departure from here (Balmoral) 
will be a great trial to us all, especially to Vicky, who leaves 
it for good and all." And when, not long after the marriage, 
her father was in Germany, among the presents on his birth- 
day was an iron chair from " Vicky " for the grounds at 
Balmoral. 

A FAVORITE AMONG THE COTTAGERS. 

Before her marriage she had photographs taken of several of 
the cottage families, those to whom she was more especially 
attached, to carry with her to her German home. She was greatly 
beloved in return, and "there was always great rejoicing when 
she came," though her last visits were infrequent. 

A marble bust of the late Grand Duke of Hesse has been placed 
in this corridor, and there is also a bust of the late Prince Leo- 
pold, Duke of Albany. On either side the staircase arch are 
busts of Dr. Norman MacLeod and Principal Tulloch of St. 
Andrews, chaplains of the Queen. The bust of Dr. MacLeod 
stands upon a pedestal of Balmoral granite, which is dark gray 
and takes a fine polish. A conspicuous object is a large gong 
with the Scotch national motto engraved upon it, "Nemo me 
impune lacessit " ; which may be roughly translated, " Whoever 
strikes me let him beware of consequences." 

A partition divides this corridor into two unequal parts. In 
the northern and smaller the band is stationed at dinner time 
when there is a band at the Castle. After the guests have retired 
to the drawing-room, the band is stationed in the larger section 
which is nearer that apartment. 



THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 32B 

A long passage runs from the corridor to the equerries' door 
and in the north right angle thus formed is the dining-room, of 
moderate size, and the windows of which look to the north 
There is nothing especially noticeable in the furnishings of this 
room. The long dining-table, to which are drawn up the hand- 
some dark leather chairs, fills the centre. The pictures on the 




LOCH LOMOND. 

walls are black and white ; noriceable among them eariy portraits 
of the Queen and Prince Consort. I observe one very interesting 
engraving which I saw also on many cottage walls, that of the 
Queen in her widow's dress, seated on horseback and reading dis- 
patches at Osborne. Her faithful Highland attendant, John 
Brown, stands at the horse's head. 

All the pictures at Balmoral are black and white. Engrav- 
ings come here, water colors go to Osborne, and oils to Windsor. 
West of the corridor is the drawing-room suite, which comprises 



324 THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 

billiard-, drawing-room and library. The floors of all tbese are 
covered with carpets of Royal Stuart tartan, a brilliant tartan 
which has squares of pure scarlet in it. The windows are draped 
with Victoria tartan, as are the windows of the dining-room. The 
furniture of the drawing-room is upholstered in the same tartan, 
the Victoria, which has a good deal of white. A small round 
turret room opens into the billiard-room, a cosy nook, looking to 
the Dee, and fitted with a writing desk. 

Among the pictures upon the walls of the billard room is an 
engraving of "The Free Church," and the visitor, especially if 
he be not new to the Highlands, but somewhat familiar with its 
people, their characteristics and their history, pauses before it, 
attracted by the fine strong face of the old woman in her mutch, the 
devout expression of the old shepherd, and by the sleeping collies. 
The drawing-room is a handsome home-like apartment ; but the 
visitor who looks for splendor will not find it. That word can 
apply to nothing at Balmoral, except it be to Nature's handiwork 
— her cloud-capped hills, her gorgeous sunsets, her glowing 
autumn landscapes. Splendors are reserved for the royal palaces; 
Balmoral is a home. 

BAGPIPES AND DEER. 

It speaks of the Highlands with its stags' heads and tartans. 
Even the well-worn hearthrug in the drawing-room has a pattern 
of bagpipe and deer. The fragrant birch of the district is burned 
upon its hearths. Candles are used for lighting. The Castle is 
warmed throughout by hot-air pipes. 

In front of the drawing-room fireplace stands a large round 
table, with comfortable chairs and couches drawn cosily about it '^ 
Family statuettes and photographs are scattered about ; miniature ^ 
photographs of all the Prince of Wales' children when young; 
a pretty group of the three older daughters of the Duke of Edin- 
burgh ; small equestrian statues under glass of Princess Alice 
and Prince Arthur (Duke of Connaught) ; Beatrice and Leopold 
together ; a silver statuette of the late Duke of Clarence. There 
are cabinets of olive and of darker woods ; one filled with chased 



THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 325 

caskets of gold presented to Her Majesty, if I remember right, by 
Scotch muiiicipalties. 

The library has a small collection of handsomely bound 
books, and here the Queen frequently dines when the party is 
small. The windows of these rooms look out upon the garden 
terrace, and above them are Her Majesty's private rooms. Many 
of the trees in the park at this side of the Castle were planted by 
members of the family and by visitors. The ball-room is the 
centre of the festive life of the Castle. A double flight of steps 
leads down into it from the house. This is the Queen's entrance, 
and at the opposite end is another. When a stage is required, 
for theatricals or tableaux, it is erected in front of these steps. 

FESTIVITIES AMONG THE TENANTS. 

A dais at one side, lined with mirrors, serves for the Royal 
Family when there is a tentantry ball or similar festivities. But 
when a play or opera is given, the Queen's armchair is placed in 
front of the stage. On the walls are grouped plaids, Scotch bon-^ 
nets, dirks, skene dhus, pouches and claymores, above which we 
find again the stags' heads. The ceiling is panelled, the com- 
partments being in blue and spangled with stars. Opposite the 
Queen's entrance is a gallery. 

A carpet of hunting Stuart tartan covers the floor of the 
smoking-room. And in this room is a bust of Sir Walter Scott, 
without whom, in some shape, a Highland home can hardly be 
said to be complete. A carpet of the same tartan is used in the 
guest chambers. It is a dark rich tartan, and makes a handsome 
carpet. I fancy these tartan carpets may be woven for Royal use 
only, in accordance with a decree similar to that by which certain 
China patterns are reserved exclusively for them. Even all 
cracked china is at once smashed and consigned to the ashpit. No 
one is permitted to keep it. 

The ''Service-room," as it is called in the household, is 
finished wholly in Balloch Buie wood, a dark, handsome wood 
enriched with many knots. The chairs are of the same wood, 
seated with dark leather. The seat of the Queen's large armchair 



826 THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 

is embroidered with the Scotch thistle ; a small table stands beside 
it, with silk cushions for Bible and hymnal. Against the walls 
are seats or settles of dark carved wood. Upon a raised platform 
in one corner stands the desk, covered with a dark-red velvet cloth 
embroidered with passion-flowers and lilies in applique. Upon a 
bracket above is a small figure of the Christ. 

Framed pictures in black and white hang upon the walls — 
sacred subjects, like Fra Bartolomeo's "Descent from the Cross." 
There is a small organ, which is played by the Princess Beatrice 
or by some lady-in-waiting. The carpet is peacock-blue. 

WINDOWS OF BEAUTIFUL DESIGNS. 

The room is lighted by narrow windows just below the ceil- 
ing. These windows are of plain glass, slightly touched with 
color, and with small figures of St. Andrew and his cross — the 
saltire upon which he is traditionally believed to have been cruci- 
fied — alternating with the rampant red lion of Scotland. A short 
flight of steps leads down into this room. The service here is 
Presbyterian, performed by one of the Queen's chaplains. This 
service room was completed in 1887, and previous to that time the 
Queen worshipped at the Presbyterian kirk which stands, or 
stood, just across the Dee on the north side. It was taken down 
in the spring of 1893, to be replaced by a handsomer structure. 

The Queen for some time would not consent to the change, 
for she loved the "dear little kirk" ; and although she did not 
attend the weekly service as formerly, she partook of the Com- 
munion there, every autumn after 1873. 

I was present at the administration of the Sacrament in 1892 ; 
and although I do not like to regard such an office from a picto- 
rial point, yet I was greatly interested in seeing, for the first 
time, "a table communion," as it is called. Two long, narrow 
tables running the length of the church were spread with white 
linen, as were some of the white book-rests. This use of white 
linen in the Scotch Presbyterian Churches has a beautiful effect, 
especially as you look down from the galleries, and you are 
reminded to what an extent linen has been used in sacred ser- 



THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 327 

vices both Jewisli and Cliristian, and in so-called Pagan ceremo- 
nies, and always as a type of purity. 

So many of tlie communicants as there was room for were 
seated at these tables, and, after communicating, gave place, dur- 
ino- the singing of one of the paraphrases, to others. The Scotch 
paraphrases of the Psalms and of other portions of the Bible 
were alone used in the song service of the day. The Queen 
desired that the old simplicity of service might be retained in 
this church, and it has not adopted the modern innovation of 
hymns— speaking from the Scotch Presbyterian standpoint— and 
it has as yet no organ. The Queen's taste was for the greatest 
simplicity in worship. 

STARED AT BY SUMMER VISITORS. 

During her habitual attendance at this church she must often 
have been greatly annoyed by the influx of summer visitors, who 
came in shoals, picketing their horses all along the road for half a 
mile each way, while they crowded the little kirk to suffocation. 
But the overcrowding was not the worst of the infliction. Un- 
mindful of the sacredness of the place and day, as well as of the 
respect due to Her Majesty, they persistently stared at her straight 
through the service, even bringing opera-glasses for the purpose. 
I remember hearing a— lady say that of course she stared at the 
Queen. It was exactly what she drove over from Braemar to do. 
Her Majesty, who observed keenly, and who at once detected the 
presence of even one stranger, was conscious of and evidently 
annoyed at her staring, she said. "But what did she care for 

that?" 

But an enterprising Englishwoman even eclipsed the per- 
formance with the opera-glasses. She visited the church on Sacra- 
ment Sunday, and in order to get as near as possible to Royalty- 
it is difficult to be charitable in view of what follows— in order to 
be in the immediate neighborhood of Royalty and force the atten- 
tion of the Queen, she joined in the solemn service, and, as the 
Queen left the table, arose from her seat and swept a low courtesy. 

"Mad! mad!" said the scandalized individual who told me 



328 THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 

tlie tale. But it is a common madness. The Royal pew was in 
the gallery, a plain seat differing in nothing from the others. The 
gallery was deep, like that of an amphitheatre, affording admirable 
facilities for staring. 

The one beauty of the homely little kirk was two large win- 
dows of stained glass, put in by Her Majesty to the memory of 
Dr. Norman MacLeod, who so often preached here, and who was 
so welcome a guest at Balmoral. These windows were transferred 
to the new church, which was, as to its outside, of the beautiful 
light Inver granite, and lined with the warmer Ballater stone 
which has all the effect in building of colored marbles. The 
church is cruciform in shape, and the south transept is reserved 
for the Royal Family. Towards the building of this new church 
Her Majesty gave $2,500. 

Abergeldie Castle is about two and a half miles from Balmo- 
ral. It is a picturesque old Scotch castle standing directly upon 
the south side of the Dee. A fine avenue of larches leads down to 
it from the highway, and the entrance-gate is flanked by two 
majestic Scotch firs of great size, with elbows like those of oaks. 
No fine tree is ever destroyed. 

STORY OF A MARTYRDOM. 

The square tower is the older portion. An iron ring in the 
pavement of the ground-floor of the tower marks the spot where 
the last which burned on Deeside was chained. The martyrdom 
took place on Craig-na-ban, now upon the Queen's estate, just over 
against Abergeldie. It is a pretty wooded hill which has a more 
recent and agreeable association than that just named. For it 
was upon Craig-na-ban that the young Crown Prince of Prussia 
pulled the white heather which he presented to his little sixteen- 
year-old lady-love, and which opened the way, says the Queen, 
for him to speak of his hopes as they rode down Strath Girnock ; 
Strath Girnock with its wimplin' stream, like nothing so much as 
that of Burns in his Hallowe'en. 

The first-floor of the square tower forms one large vaulted 
apartment, now a bedroom, the chief bedroom of the Castle, 



THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 329 

Above, the rooms are divided into smaller bedrooms, and all are 
reached by tlie winding stone stairs in the ancient turret. 

In the earlier days of the Queen's stay at Balmoral, her 
mother, the Duchess of Kent, passed the autumn here. In 1879 
the poor Empress Eugenie was invited to Abergeldie for change 
and quiet, after the sad death of her son the preceding 
June. 

Of later years it was occupied by the Prince of Wales and 
his family, and near the south entrance stands the great tree 
under which the children could be seen at their tea by the 
passer-by. For the Castle is very near the highway. Some 
additions have been made to it, the better to accomodate the 
family, though at the best it is small for them and their retinue. 
A louQf line of carrias^e houses has more than once served for a 
ball-room. Since the marriage of the oldest daughter to the Duke 
of Fife, their Highland sojourn has been spent at Mar Lodge, 
some sixteen miles farther up the valley. 

SPLENDID FOREST OF DROOPING BIRCHES. 

Abergeldie is justly celebrated for its forest of drooping 
birches. In the early spring of 1893, the combined beauty of 
birch and broom in its immediate neighborhood was a thing to 
dream of ! great masses of golden broom, set amidst the tender 
vernal green of the drooping birches. The forests of this graceful 
variety of birch constitute one of the chief charms of Deeside, 
as well as of the Highlands in general. 

Just behind the Castle of Abergeldie flows the Dee. A sus- 
pension foot bridge was built just here by the Queen for the better 
accomodation of her people. Previously there was a cradle only 
for transDortation, connected with which was one of those tales of 
love and fateful death so common in the legends of the Scotch 
Highlands. The heroine was sweet Babby Brown, who, together 
with her newly-wedded husband, was engulfed in the swollen Dee 
as they were crossing, the ropes having been cut by an unsuc- 
cessful wooer of Babby' s, or Barbara's. To the explorer of Bal- 
moral, the story has additional interest from the fact that the 



330 



THE CASTLE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 



newly-wedded liusband was keeper at " The Hut," one of the 
Queen's Shiels. 

Later, the Duke of Connaught and his family were at Aber- 
gel die during the Queen's autumnal stay at Balmoral. Birkhall 
is still further from Balmoral, up Glenmuick. The Queen had a 
private road the greater part of the way there. 

And here let me say that you never see posted on the Queen's 
estate, threats of prosecution for trespass. A painted board simply 
intimates that certain ways are " strictly private." And the same 
fashion prevails on the Prince of Wales' estate at Sandringham. 
The royal courtesy never fails ; and lost indeed to all sense of 
personal and private rights must the individual be who can tres- 
pass upon ways thus guarded. While the threat to prosecute, I 
fancy, often acts as a challenge to spirits of daring. 

The Muick forms the boundary line of the combined estates 
to the east, and Birkhall stands not far from its margin. It is a 
plain, ivy-covered structure, beautiful for situation only. Here 
the Duchess of Albany and her children have spent their autumns 
of late. It is not equal to the accommodation of a large house- 
hold. Florence Nightingale was once the guest here of Sir James 
Clark, after her return from the Crimea, and was invited from 
here to Balmoral. 

With the exception of the Home Farm, there are no farm 
lands on Balmoral proper. It is largely forest. The tenant farms 
are at Abergeldie and Birkhall. When the Court is in. residence, 
Balmoral is a busy place, a small town in itself But when the 
Court leaves in November, it falls into a quiet almost oppressive 
by contrast. 



CHAPTER XX. 
The Memorials at Balmoral. 

A CAIRN was in its first intention simply a pile of stones tc 
mark a burial place ; then to commemorate some event oi 
importance. Cairns are found in every part of Scotland, and top 
almost every liill in the Highlands. One of the most interesting 
of the ancient cairns on Deeside is the Cairn-a-Quheen, or Cairn 
of Remembrance 

" Cairn-a-Quheen " was the battle-cry of the Farquharsons 
when any marauding or warlike expedition was on foot. The 
clan mustered in the immediate vicinity of the cairn, each man 
bringing a stone. These stones were left on the muster ground, 
and on their return, when the survivors again assembled, each 
man picked up a stone and took it away with him. Those that 
were left denoted the number of the slain, and were added to the 
cairn. Cairn-a-Quheen is on the north side of the Dee, not far 
from Balmoral Castle. 

It does not surprise us, therefore, that the Queen, who was 
such a lover of old Highland customs, should have built a cairn 
to commemorate the purchase of Balmoral. It is called the 
"Queen's Cairn," and is the oldest upon the estate, a former one 
having been demolished to make way for it. It stands upon the 
highest point of Craig Gowan. This cairn was built one fine 
October day in 1852. The Royal Family, accompanied by the 
ladies and gentlemen in waiting, went up to the spot, where were 
assembled the servants and tenants. The Queen placed the first 
stone, and Prince Albert the second. Then the children eact 
(placed one according to their ages. Prince Arthur, later Duke 
of Connaught, was the youngest at that time, a wee laddie of two 
years and six months. 

After the family, the ladies and gentlemen each placed a 
stone ; then all advanced together. And so the cairn arose to the 

331 



332 THE MEMORIALS AT BALMORAL. 

music of the pipes, and witli mucli gay laughter and merriment. 
Refreshments were handed round, and all the people danced reels, 
including the old women in their mutches, and the little children, 
among them Lizzie Stewart, with hair a-ilying, who was for many 
years one of the Queen's wardrobe maids. 

When the cairn was almost complete. Prince Albert climbed 
up and placed the topmost stone. Then three cheers were given. 
And so it stands to this day. Lichens have gathered upon it, and 
heather has rooted itself in its crevices. It is about eight feet high, 
a cone in shape, hollowed at one side. In this hollow is inserted 
an oval slab of granite bearing this inscription : — 

" This cairn was erected in the presence of Queen Victoria and 
Prince Albert to commemorate the purchase of the Balmoral 
Estate, Oct. II, 1852." 

A GROUP OF CAIRNS. 

Craig Gowan is south of the Castle, and from its summit you 
look directly down upon it, its gardens, lawns, and offices. A little 
below the Queen's Cairn is a flagstaff, and the flat space where the 
bonfires are built. And still lower down stands Prince Leopold's 
Cairn, built at the time of his marriage. Each child had a cairn 
built to commemorate his or her marriage. The Prince of Wales' 
Cairn is on the Birkhall estate, which he owned at the time of his 
marriage ; upon the highest of the three mountain peaks known 
as " The Coyles." It was first built by the tenantry on the smallest 
of the Coyles. But in time it became quite ruinous, and Her 
Majesty had this one built. It has the following inscription 

upon a stone at its foot : — 

Erected 

by command of 

Queen Victoria 

in remembrance of 

the marriage of 

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, 

AND 

Alexandra, Princess of Denmark, 
jOTH March, 1863. 



THE MEMORIALS AT BALMORAL. 333 

Tlie Coyles are a conspicuous and beautiftil feature of this 
part of the valley. The Princess Royal's Cairn is on a beautiful 
castellated hill in Glen Gelder, the same hill from out which the 
granite was quarried for the Castle. In ascending Craig Gowan 
from the back yoa pass the cairn of Princess Louise. They are 
all cone-shape, about ten feet high, and compactly built of the 
ordinary stones you see lying about. i 

DAINTY LITTLE SUMMER HOUSE. 

In going down Craig Gowan you have a choice of smooth 
well-kept paths. Beside one is the Fog (Scottish for moss) 
House, a little summer-house lined throughout with the soft 
moss that carpets all the woods hereabouts, and, if it were suffered 
to have its way, would carpet all the fields as well. By a path 
winding along the back of Craig Gowan, and crossing a dry 
ravine — a rustic bridge over which was the last bit of work 
planned on the estate by Prince Albert — you reach the base of 
Craig Lowrigan, on the summit of which is the cairn erected by 
the Queen to the memory of the Prince. You pass through a 
gate, and a wide, smooth pass is before you, up which, though 
steep in places, the Queen's garden chair can readily go. 

By the side of the path, a little way up, is Princess Beatrice's 
Cairn, with this inscription in the small slab set in one side : — 
H. R, H. Princess Beatrice 

MARRIED TO 

H. R. H. Prince Henry Maurice 
OF Batten berg, 
23RD July, 1885. 

This may be said to be the youngest of the cairns. The 
path ascends through a wood of fir and larch, planted since 1852. 
The day I went up Craig Lowrigan was a fine February day, 
The robins were singing and the doves cooing in the woods below, 
although the wind from off Lochnagar's snow-streaked sides was 
piercing as it swept across the top of the Craig. It was true 
Queen's weather, such as Her Majesty liked best, clear, sunny, 
with a touch of frost in the air. 



^34 THE MEMORIALS AT BALMORAL. 

The summit is treeless, but has a low growth of heather and 
cranberry. The shallow pools of water had a thin coating of ice, 
and there were plenty of deer tracks about, but no deer visible. 
The cairn is a pyramid of granite blocks, built without mortar. 
It is about forty feet square at the base and thirty-five feet high, 
and can be seen for miles up and down the valley. On one side 
are cut the initials of the Queen and her children ; on that front- 
ing the valley is the following inscription : — 

To THE Beloved Memory 

OF 

Albert, the Great and Good 
Prince Consort, 
Raised by his Broken-hearted Widow, 
Victoria R. 
August 21, 1862. 
"He being made perfect, in short time fulfilled a long- time, 
For his soul pleased the Lord, 
Therefore hastened He to take him 
Away from among the wicked." 

— Wisdom of Solomon, iv. 13, 14. 

Another memorial to Prince Albert is the obelisk erected to 
his memory by the servants and tenantry of the three estates. 
It is of plain gray granite, and bears a shield on one side with an 
inscription to the effect that it was erected by them as "an 
humble tribute of affection for their beloved master." This 
obelisk stands in a small plantation of trees, in the eastern part of 
the park, with flower beds on either side of the approach. 

A short distance from the obelisk is the bronze statue of 
Prince Albert presented to the servants and tenantry by the 
Queen. It is an enlarged copy of the marble statue by Theed in 
the corridor of the Castle. It stands upon a pedestal of rough 
granite slabs. Yearly on the return of the Prince's birthday, 
August 26th, the Queen and family, together with, servants and 
tenantry, met by this statue, and silently drank to his memory. 
It was unveiled by the Queen, October 15, 1867, on the anniver- 
sary of their engagement day. 



THE MEMORIALS AT BALMORAL. 335 

I was passing by this statue with a public official one day. 
" It is a fine likeness of the Prince," he said. " Could not be bet- 
ter." Then he added a word in regard to his fine personal pres- 
ence. "And he was a high-thinking man," he said. 

There are not many left on the estate who knew the Prince 
Consort personally. Even most of the children of his day have 
gone away. One of these remembers him. "He looked particu- 
larly well on horseback." " He was always busy — always think- 
ing and planning what good things he could do, how he could 
improve and make things better." 

One of the two old servants left is fond of speaking of "his 
kindness of heart and his invariable good humor. Met you 
always with a smile. If your work pleased him he said so, and 
if it did not please him he said so, but always with the same kind 
smile. Always ready to own if he had made a mistake. A busy 
systematic man. The punctuallest man. To each hour its work. 
He might be talking with you, when out would come his watch. 
'Time's up,' he would say, and was off like a bird." 

A PRINCE MUCH BELOVED. 

The venerable face of the old servant grew mildly radiant as 
he talked of his master, for the Prince was greatly beloved at Bal- 
moral. The words " beloved master" on the obelisk, are not per- 
functory, as is so often the case with mortuary terms of endearment. 

The Prince was fond of athletic sports, and especially so of 
deer-stalking. He put all his energies into it for the time being, 
as he did into everything ; and the stoutest gillie found it difiicult 
to keep up with him. But he could not understand making a 
business of hunting. He had a practical knowledge of an extra- 
ordinary number of things, and a German thoroughness in 
matters of detail. He knew exactly what he wanted done, and, in 
default of his servants knowing, could give clear instructions. 
When the Castle was building, a gentlemen told me he chanced 
to be by one day when the Prince was giving directions in regard 
to some features in the landscape gardening, but the man could 
not catch his idea. 



^^Q THE MEMORIALS AT BALMORAL. 

" Bring- me a board and some sand," said the Prince ; and he 
quickly moulded the sand into the required sliape. 

The estate as it is to-day is entirely his work ; and I heartily 
agree with the old cottager, who has spent most of her days 
there, when she said to me, " It is a bonnie spot." Jnst at that 
moment the setting sun was shining full upon the beautiful 
Castle, illuminating its turrets and gables. I was returning from 
the small enclosure in which is erected the Memorial Cross to the 
Princess Alice. You reach it partly by the river path, passing 
down the terrace steps by the Castle. By the side of this path is 
a summer-house built of wood and moss, and ornamented with 
deer antlers, all from "Balmoral Forest," an inscription in moss 
tells you. The cross is west of the Castle, in the park, and not 
far from the Dee, whose rushing tide you plainly hear as you sit 
there. It is of gray Aberdeenshire granite, with passion-flowers 
cut in low relief; it is about twelve feet high, and stands upon a 
granite mound partially overrun with ivy. It has the following 
inscription : — 

To THE Dear Memory 

OF 

Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, 

Princess of Great Britain and Ireland. 

Born April 25, 1843; Died December 14, 1878. 

This is Erected 

By Her Sorrowing Mother, 

Queen Victoria. 

" Her name shall live though now she is no more." 

Pleasant words are spoken of the Royal Family by those 
living in the neighborhood of Balmoral, words dropped casually 
in conversation, not in reply to the direct question, " How is So-[ 
and-so liked?" and therefore giving the real feeling of the 
speaker. One day, in a public conveyance, I heard an ofiicial 
say, a propos of Abergeldie Castle and the lats Duke of Clarence, 
who passed so much of his boyhood there, " He was a nice chap ; 
quiet, and easy approached." 

And another official, who came in contact with all the mem- 



THE MEMORIALS AT BALMORAL. 337 

bers, said they were always pleasant to meet ; always very appre- 
ciative of everything done for their comfort ; did not take efforts 
to that end as a matter of course, as only their due. He always 
liked to meet with them all. " But," he added, with a perceptible 
softening of his voice, "the Princess Alice was the most beloved." 
And I observe that she is always spoken of with great tenderness. 
She was the second daughter, and admirably filled the place of an 
older sister. She was the Queen's stay and comfort when Prince 
Albert died. She was his stay also, ministering to him in his 
last hours, singing his favorite hymns, and receiving those last 
messages which the Queen in her anguish, and vainly clinging 
to hope, could not listen to. 

ANGEL OF MERCY TO THE POOR. 

She nursed the Prince of Wales in his nearly fatal illness in 
187 1, and he was deeply attached to his sister. At Darmstadt, 
her German home, she was greatly beloved. Like the Princess 
Christian, she labored among the poor and suffering, went from 
house to house, and with no attendant. Often those whose bodily 
pains she soothed, tending them with her own hands, and to whose 
spiritual needs she ministered, did not know to whom they were 
indebted. Hers seems to have been a life governed by even a 
higher motive than that of a duty ; a life whose source was love. 

There is an exquisite engraved portrait of her at Abergeldie 
Castle, taken after the death of a little son who was killed by a fall 
from a two-story window. The Princess had just turned to leave 
the room, and though she did not see him fall, heard the rush 
through the air and the dreadful thud as he struck the ground. 
Always after that, the old housekeeper told me, she wore the sad 
yet exquisitely lovely look of this portrait. An old servant tried 
to describe this look to me, and said it was as though, when she 
spoke to you and smiled, although sweet and kind as ever, her 
heart and thoughts were elsewhere. 

Princess Alice's husband, the late Grand Duke of Hesse, was 
much liked at Balmoral. His frank and genial manner won all 
hearts. " He was always so nice !" A scarf pin he gave to one 
22 , - . 



3S8 THE MEMORIALS AT BALMORAL. 

of the servants was shown me : a pretty jewelled bit, witli ovef 
thirty tiny pearls in it. He was generous to the gillies, who by no 
means have an easy time during the fishing and deer-stalking sea- 
sons ; and he did not tell tales out of school ! 

One day, when his party were returning from deer-stalking, 
they found that the coachman who had been in waiting at the 
appointed place had improved his leisure by imbibing vast quan- 
tities of whisky, and was totally unfit to ride — in fact, tumbled oflF 
his horse as often as he was lifted on. Thereupon he was stowed 
into the cart with the dead deer, and the Duke of Hesse sprang 
upon the horse and served as postillion. He conveyed the party 
in safety to the stables, and as he rode into the yard shouted out, 
"Take off!" which is the signal for the ostlers given by the 
coachman. "Take off yourself!" was the reply, and great was the 
consternation when it was found to whom they had spoken so 
cavalierly. But, bless you ! the Duke didn't mind ; and, what 
was still better, he did not betray the drunken coachman, who was 
sure in his own mind — when he came to that mind — that the next 
day would be that of his dimissal. 

"AS HAPPY AS TWO CHILDREN." 

I recall here how an old servant told me that during the 
engagement of Princess Alice and Louis of Hesse, she often saw 
them running about hand in hand, "as happy as two children." 
It is interesting to observe the tone in which different members 
of the Royal Family are mentioned — a tone indicative of their 
Special characteristics. A lad of eighteen or thereabouts, a lad 
with an open sonsie Scotch face, talked enthusiastically to me of 
the Princess Louise (Marchioness of Lome). "She is so bright 
and jolly to talk with!" says he, and, on the whole, thinks he 
likes her best. Others dwell on the goodness of Princess Beatrice, 
who is to them a true child of Deeside, so much of her life has 
been spent there. 

At a suggestion that some people called her proud, an old 
cottager remonstrated. " Na, na! her manner was different from 
the rest ; but she was brought up different — was with older folk 



THF MEMORIALS AT BALMORAL 330 

mostly. Tlie otlier children were taken by tlieir governess or 
nurse to the cottages to give tlieir own little gifts, and they 
played with the cottage children an hour every day. It was 
different with the Princess Beatrice. But she wasna proud. Na, 
na !" And then she went on to tell me how the Princess often 
came to see her, and how, when she said "goodbye," she took her 
by the hand, with many kind wishes for her health and comfort 
^during their absence. 

"And that doesna look like a proud leddy!" And then, 
with no little pride herself, she added that she had also shaken 
hands more than once with the Queen. 

STORY OF THE PRINCES AND A COUNTRYMAN. 

Of the sons, the Duke of Edinburgh passed the least time 
here after his boyhood. The Duke of Connaught was often here, 
and the Prince of Wales was looked upon as a son of the soil. 
I heard two cottagers talking over a story concerning the three 
one day. It sounded somewhat familiar to me. It may be an 
old story ; and it may be a manufactured one. " But," said the 
old dame, who had known them from childhood, and evidently 
still viewed them as a trio of extremely lively lads, " it was just 
what they would have liked." And so I give it. 

The three had been fishing some distance from Balmoral, 
and were waiting at the appointed place for the wagonnette to take 
them home. A boy with an empty cart came along, and, seeing 
them standing there, asked where they were going. 

"To Balmoral." 

" Would they ride with him ? " 

''Oh, yes," and they all got in. 

" And what ma}^ you do at Balmoral ? " asked the boy of the 
.Prince of Wales, who sat beside him, the whole three, it seems, 
being stran,g"ers to the lad. 

"I an? the Prince of Wales." 

^'Ay? and who may that chap be?" indicating with his 
thttta^bover his shoulder the second son of Her Majesty. 

"He is the Duke of Edinburgh." 



?.40 TME memorials at BALMORAL. 

''And t'otlier one?" witli anotlierjerk of his thumb. 

"The Duke of Connaught." 

The boy wore an air of thought for some moments, then 
he spoke again. 

" Perhaps you'd like to know who I am ? " he said. 

The Prince intimated that he would. 

" I am the Shah of Persia," said the lad, not to be outdone 
in this assumption of titles. 

From internal evidence, I should judge that this story orig- 
inated at or about the time of the visit of the Shah of Persia 
and his suite to Balmoral. They were not entertained at the 
Castle, with the exception of a lunch, but at the neighboring 
house of Glenmuick. A ball was given there in their honor, 
largely attended by the neighborhood. The Shah was not 
impressed with the beauty of the ladies, nor with the dancing. 
Like all Orientals, he could not understand why people should 
go through the fatigue of dancing when they could have it done 
for them. 

THE SHAH MUCH AMUSED. 

Wines and whisky had been provided in unlimited measure, 
and some of the soldiers present, having partaken too freely, fell 
to fighting under or near the Shah's window, in the mingled 
dawn and twilight of the midsummer night. Thereupon His 
Majesty of Persia immediately arose and watched the fight from 
his window, pronouncing it the best thing he had seen since he 
arrived in Great Britain. 

His suite, still preserved in photographs, wore habitually their 
huge Astrachan hats, and may have done so in bed, for aught any 
one knew to the contrary. The impression they made on the 
country side was not a particularly savory one, notwithstanding 
we are taught by Oriental poetry, including the "Arabian 
Nights," that bathing is an important function in the Bast. 

Opposite the bronze statue of the Prince Consort, and front- 
ing it at some little distance, is the statue of the Queen, also of 
bronze, which was presented to Her Majesty on her Jubilee year, 



■THE MEMORIALS AT BALMORAL. 341 

1887, by lier Scotcli servants and tenantry. Tlie Prince of 
Wales unveiled tlie statue, and made tlie presentation to the 
Queen, in a speech to which Her Majesty replied. It was rarely 
that the Queen's self-command failed, but on this occasion she 
was much affected, especially in that part of the speech wherein 
she alluded to the great changes that had taken place on the 
estate — the many faithful servants whom death had removed. 
The presentation and unveiling of this statue may be classed as 
among the most interesting of the ceremonies of her Jubilee 
year, although strictly private. The people present were limited 
to the Royal Family and to the servants and tenants on the three 
estates. 

There is a favorite walk of the Queen running around the 
east side of Craig Gowan, a forest walk, and besides it a little 
way back, is the memorial chair of Prince Leopold, Duke of 
Albany. It is in a small amphitheatre or hollow, wooded with 
drooping birches. Boulders are heaped behind it. It is of 
Peterhead granite, a handsome mottled stone. The seat is plain, 
with the exception of a crown encircled by thistles, cut in relief, 
on the back. It bears the date of the year in which the Prince 
died, 1884, and the following inscription in gilt letters : 

"Whoe'er is distant, .Never so ever near 

He is always near ; As now he's gone," 

This seat was covered in shortly after the Queen left in 
November, and the little wooden box or house covering it was 
further protected by a stout wire fence, as the deer like to rub 
their antlers upon it. It is a solitary spot, especially lovely 
when the birches are in leaf. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

The Queen's Daily Life at Balmoral. 

THBRB is probably no one, no woman at least, in all her 
Kmpire wbose days were more completely filled with suc- 
cessive duties tban those of tbe Queen of Great Britain. For 
she bad not only ber own private family and tbe management 
of ber Balmoral and Osborne estates to look after, but also ber 
large family of subjects. And in neitber did sbe tbrow tbe 
responsibility on ber agents. It is said of ber tbat no living 
statesman was so tborougbly conversant witb tbe workings of 
every department — of every cog, one may say — in tbe vast Gov- 
ernmental macbine as tbe Queen. And every detail in regard to 
tbe management of ber private estates was laid before ber. 

Tbe Queen was an early riser, tbat is, early as regarded 
from tbe Bnglisb upper-class standpoint, wbo in tbeir lives turn 
nigbt into day. And sbe frequently cbose to breakfast at a cer- 
tain small cottage in tbe near neigbborbood of tbe Castle. Tbis 
cottage was originally a gardener's cottage, and is built of latb and 
plaster, and was intended merely for temporary use. But tbe 
Queen took a fancy to it, and used it for some years. It consists 
of tbree rooms, in one of wbicb tbe Queen breakfasted, and in tbe 
largest of wbicb sbe wrote. 

PORTRAIT OF THE QUEEN'S MOTHER. 

On tbe background bang family pbotograpbs and portraits 
in black and wbite of a somewbat early date, I especially 
remarked one of tbe Ducbess of Kent, tbe Queen's motber, to 
wbom tbe nation owes so mucb for tbe wise and judicious train- 1 
ing of ber daughter. Tbere is an engraving of tbe footman, Jobn 
Brown, witb tbe dogs at Osborne, and pbotograpbs of tbe favorite 
collies "Noble" and"Sbarp." And, wbat would immediately 
attract a bookisb eye, tbere is Cassell's admirable National 
342 



THE QUEEN'S DAILY LIFE AT BALMORAL. 343 

Library in its compact little shelves upon a cabinet in one cor- 
ner. A plain room, plainly furnisbed, with large round table foi 
writing, and more suggestive of home than public life. But, for 
that matter, the whole atmosphere of Balmoral is homely. One 
end of this room is so made that it can be entirely thrown open 
giving that open air feeling of which the Queen was so fond. The 
cottage itself is secluded, screened from the Castle by interven- 
ing shrubberies, and looking out on smooth lawns and secluded 
paths bordered by quite primeval woods. 

The Queen was fond of a quiet spot like this in which to 
work. At Osborne she had a summer-house, and at Windsor she 
resorted to a tent upon the lawn of Frogmore House. And even 
when she was temporarily at a place, as at Holyrood Palace, Edin- 
burgh, which stands in anything but a secluded spot, she con- 
trived with the help of screens and umbrellas a place to write in 
the open air. 

IMPORTANT DISPATCHES. 

When the Queen was at Balmoral two extra trains were run 
up and down Deeside, called the Queen's messenger trains. These 
bear the dispatches to and from London. The up tiain arrives 
at 5 o'clock a. m., and to attend to these dispatches, after they 
have been sorted by her private secretary, was a part of the morn- 
ing's business. There were innumerable papers to sign, and the 
simple drying of the signature was no small task. In this she 
was assisted by her personal attendant, Fraucie Clark, who was 
always at hand. The dispatches were returned upon the 4 
o'clock messenger express. At 11 a. m. came the Balmoral mail, 
for which a messenger was always in waiting at the station with 
a fast horse and a yellow-bodied gig stamped with the invariable 

V, R. 

In looking over the newspapers, the Queen intimated what- 
ever she would like preserved, and it was one of the duties of the 
wardrobe maids to cut such paragraphs out and paste them into 
an album supplied for this purpose. And innumerable are the 
albums that have grown out of this habit. The cutting is not 



fi4-i THE QUEEN'S DAILY LIFE AT BALMORAL. 

necessarily concerning a matter of public interest, or any distin- 
guislied individual. It may be simply a neigbborliood incident, 
like the drowning of tbe young soldier of ber guard in tbe sum- 
mer of 1 89 1, or tbe gift to a parisb minister from bis people. 
Tbe date was always af&xed to tbese cuttings, so tbat wben tbe 
Queen asked for tbe date of sucb and sucb an occurrence it could 
be readily found. 

Tbe Queen bad a small movable bouse or room made, put 
together witb screw bolts. It could be readily taken apart and 
set wherever it might please her to command, within sound of 
the voice of Dee, or on some sunny lawn, or in the shade of a 
spreading tree. It is about twelve feet square, and can be opened 
on the four sides or closed, just as the occupant desires, being 
furnished with sliding walls after the fashion of a Japanese 
house. The Queen was no longer able to walk about tbe estate 
as she used to do. A woman, who was a little girl in the days 
when Prince Albert too came to Deeside, told me a little incident, 
trivial in itself, but throwing light upon the daily life and ways 
of that time 

THE LITTLE LAD IN TROUBLE. 

She, little Mary, in company witb her brother Kenneth, was 
helping her neighbor Maggie to herd the cows. Their business 
was to see that the cows did not get at the corn ; but they being 
intent on play, the cows were soon left to Kenneth's herding, 
who was a little lad of five. When at last the cows were discov- 
ered feeding upon tbe corn, Maggie, true to that instinct which 
impels every son and daughter of Adam to look about for a 
scapegoat for bis or her own sins, fell upon Kenneth, scolding 
him volubly for neglecting to look after the cows. In the midst 
of her tirade she heard a voice call "Maggie !" and looking up, 
saw the Queen and Prince Albert in a path upon the hillside 
above. Maggie hesitated, but again the clear voice of tbe Queen 
called "Maggie !" and reluctantly Maggie went forward. 

"Maggie," she said, kindly, "you should remember tbat 
Kenneth is a little boy, and does not understand about keeping 



THE QUEEN'S DAILY LIFE AT BALMORAL. 345 

the COW.S off the corn. It would be a better way to put up a 
string so they cannot get at it." 

The children were inwardly amused at the idea of a string 
being a sufficient guard, but, mindful of what was due to the 
Queen, did not smile. Not so Prince Albert, who laughed heartily 
at her, and the two walked merrily off together. 

"The Prince," adds my story teller, "liked to walk about in 
that way, with the Queen on his arm, just all by themselves, and 
with no attendants and no fuss." And there were climbs over 
the hills, and rough, mossy ground, and walks about the wood, 
the Prince catching sight of deer perhaps, and starting in pursuit 
with his gun, the Queen waiting and sketching. When they 
first came to Balmoral the Queen "ran about everywhere," says 
an old servant. She " went up to the top of Craig Go wan every 
day, except on the day of the Braemar games." 

TREAT FOR THE LITTLE ONES. 

And every Sunday came a little family walk, the Prince and 
Queen and all the children together. This treat was looked for- 
ward to with great delight. "Grant," or whatever the servant's 
name, the children would say, " to-morrow is Sunday, and we are 
all going to walk with papa and mama." But all that is long past. 
The Queen afterward went about the grounds in her garden 
chair — a basket with thick rubber bands on the wheels for ease 
and smoothness of motion. Francie Clark led the pony or 
donkey, and the dogs went with her in charge of the dogmen — ■ 
"Roy" and "Marco" and the rest. The little beasties did not 
accompany her in her long drives, though "Sharp," I believe, 
used occasionally to break away and follow till he caught up to 
,her carriage, to return sitting proudly by his royal mistress's side. 

The Queen drove morning and afternoon. She drove very 
fast, and as she did not care to drive habitually with four horses> 
and as she was good to her animals, she had a change of horses 
in readiness at certain stations. If she drove to Ballater, eight 
miles, a pair of horses were sent down to the hotel stables some 
time before. The horses taken out of the carriage there were 



346 THE QUEEN'S DAILY LIFE AT BALMORAL. ^ 

groomed, fed, and rested before being taken back. The same was 
done wben sbe drove up to Braemar, also eight miles, and then 
on to the Linn of Dee, where the carriage road up the valley 
comes to an end. 

Formerly she used to take all-day drives across country, 
finding great refreshment in this progress through wild, solitary 
glens, by broad, still moors, and within sound of rushing waters 
from burn and brooklet. But all that was given up with advan- 
cing years, together with the picnics when her children were 
younger, when John Brown boiled the tea-kettle gipsy fashion in 
shelter of some cairn or cliff, and they drank their tea amid the 
rosy heather. Though the Queen loved her solitary drives and 
walks at Balmoral, yet here, as elsewhere, she occasionally 
graciously showed herself to her eager people. On Saturday, 
which was the great excursion day into the valley, she often 
timed her drive and chose her road, so as to meet the crowded 
brakes. She doubtless enjoyed the sight of these her people 
taking their pleasure, and they were simply delighted to see her, 

EAGER TO SEE THE QUEEN. 

As they drove up to the station to take the train you heard 
them on all sides — 

" We saw the Queen " ! " We met the Queen !" Apparently 
that incident was the crowning pleasure of the day. 

Sure-footed Highland ponies are kept for the many paths 
inaccessible by carriage, up the steep hills, and away to Byron's 
"dark Lochnagar," and as late as 1892 the Queen was able to 
mount and ride with Francie Clark leading her pony. In her 
daily drive she would call to inquire for any ailing tenant, or, if 
death had visited any cottage, to express her sympathy. But she 
could not get out of her carriage as formerly. 

To one of her old women whom she had been in the 
habit of visiting yearly, she sent word that as the Queen was 
not able to go and see her, she must come and see the Queen. 
Sometimes there was an unexpected call upon her time and s^mi- 
pathy, as when the young soldier of her guard was drowned, He 



THE QUEEN'S DAILY LIFE AT BALMORAL. 347 

was salmon fishing, and slipped in some way and struck liis liead 
so that he was stunned and unable to save himself, though the 
river in that place was shallow. The Queen drove to the barracks 
to the funeral service, bringing a wreath to place with her own 
hands upon his cofi&n. And as the train moved away, bearing to 
his mother her dead son, she stopped her carriage upon the railway 
bridge and watched it out of sight down the valley. 

At the time of the Scotch Home Industries Exhibit at Aber- 
deen (1892) the goods to be sent from Crathie were at the Manse, 
and she drove thither to see them. She seemed to find time for 
every duty, however trivial — if a duty ever is trivial. After her 
engagement to Prince Albert he wrote to a friend: "I think T 
shall be very happy, for Victoria possesses all the qualities which 
make a home happy." And in studying the life and character of 
the Queen, one is struck with her domesticity. One feels that 
had she been born in a private station she would have been one of 
the most domestic of women, a true housewife. 

THE QUEEN'S NEEDLEWORK. 

I never heard that she took particularly to needlework of 
any kind — that refuge of Queens in former ages from the dreary 
monotony of their lives — though occasionally she sent to some 
lucky bazaar a specimen of her knitting. Lucky, for her work 
fetched nearly or quite its weight in gold. And she once learned 
to spin upon the little wheel, most artistic and graceful of indus- 
tries. One of her cottage women at Balmoral taught her to spin, 
and she spun enough for a napkin or two. An old cottager told 
me she had once several threads of the Queen's spinning, but 
that she had given them away to eager petitioners. 

When the children were young, all goods purchased for their 
wear were submitted to her before being determined upon. Her 
supervision over every detail of their training was complete. In 
extant memoranda in her own writing she says : " The greatest 
maxim of all is — that the children should be brought up as 
simply and in as domestic a way as possible ; that, not interfering 
with their lessons, they should be as much as possible with their 



348 THE QUEEN'S DAILY LIFE AT BALMORAL. 

parents, and learn to place tbeir greatest confidence in tlieni in 
all things." 

And that religious training is best given to a child daily at 
its mother's knee was her sincere conviction. What better rules 
could be laid down for the training of children in any station in 
life ? That she experienced the usual anxieties of a mother left 
,with a large family of fatherless children we know, for she has 
told us so. Lamenting the death of her chaplain and friend, 
Dr. M'lvcod, she writes : "No one ever reassured and comforted 
me more about my children." 

PIPERS ENLIVEN THE DINNER. 

At dinner, which was at nine, the pipers played, marching 
to and fro outside at a little distance from the windows of the 
dining-room. They played also at breakfast and lunch. The 
Queen was fond of the pipes, and nowhere did their music have 
such power to tirl the heartstrings as in these, their native glens, 
of which the bagpipe may be said to be the musical interpreter. 
The soughing of the wind through the firs ; the glad rush and 
murmur of waters ; the song of the shilfa ; the hum of bees 
among the heather ; the plaintive cry of the plover ; the peace 
and calm of the long summer days wherein the lingering twilight 
breaks into dawn with no intervening night ; all the poetry and 
color, all the movement and pathos of the "north countree," 
find expression in the music of its pipes and their quaint, melo- 
dious strains. 

And the Queen loved it, and there were always pipers at Bal- 
moral. Like all the rest of the Queen's Highland retainers, they 
wore the kilt, and their Court or State dress was particularly 
handsome. The tunic is of black velvet, the kilt and plaid of 
Royal Stuart tartan. The buckles, slides, clasp of sporran or pouch, 
the arm-guard and all ornaments are solid silver. The jewels 
worn with the Highland dress are always cairngorms, and there 
is one in the brooch upon the shoulder and in the top of the dirk. 
A slender silver chain passes over the shoulder and under the 
opposite arm, to which is attached a silver powder horn. This 



THE QUEEN'S DAILY LIFE AT BALMORAL 340 

had its uses once, in other and more disturbed times, but is now 
only worn in accordance with the ancient custom. 

The shoes have double silver buckles, the pattern of r.hoe 
that goes with the kilt. A silver crown and lion, the same that 
is on the belt clasp and sporran, is fastened in his Glengarry cap. 
The bag of the bagpipe is of Royal blue velvet, the ribbons are 
\^ictoria and Royal Stuart tartan, and the banneret is blue silk 
with the Royal arms embroidered in gold ; as can be seen, a very 
beautiful dress, but one which loses much given in black and 
white. < 

Simplicity always characterizes the recreations of people who 
of necessity live somewhat artificial lives, providing they are 
genuine folk and unspoiled. When Prince Henr}^ of Prussia was 
at the Castle in October, 1892, he diverted himself during his 
leisure hours in making a waterwheel. He made it in his room. 
What the housemaids thought of the litter I do not know. But 
the wheel was a success. He set it up on the border of the Dee, 
constructing a support of stones, and it responded promptly to 
the rapid rush of the water. 

FOND OF REVIVING OLD CUSTOMS. 

The Queen had a like simplicity of taste, and she was also 
fond of keeping wp and reviving old customs, and now and then, 
came a special day in her calendar like Hallowe'en. On that day, 
should you chance to be at Deeside, you would see the children, 
as soon as the gloaming set in, abroad with torches, jumping 
dancing, shouting. These torches, together with the bonfires 
that are kindled, are said to be simply a remnant of the old fire- 
worship. Formerly] the torches were carried over the ground sup- 
posed to be haunted by witches or spirits. At Balmoral the witch 
is sometimes burned at Hallowe'en. 

The Queen going out for her evening drive was met on her 
return by a crowd of servants, keepers, gillies, children, each 
bearing a torch made of splints of fir tied together. They escorted 
the Queen to the door, and then they marched round and round the 
Castle, the flare of their torches illuminating wall and turret and 



350 THE QUEEN'S DAILY LIFE AT BALMORAL. 

tower. Tlie foundation of a bonfire liad been previously laid a 
little west of tbe Castle, witli old barrels or any otber dry fuel, 
and presently as tbe niarcli continued, a cart was seen approach- 
ing from tbe stables at tbe east, drawn by balf a dozen men with 
blackened faces, and clad in garments which further disguised 
them. 

In the cart sat the witch, a hideous mannikin. The people 
applied their torches to the combustibles, and when the bonfire 
had got well to going "her ladyship," says my informant, who 
often assisted at this cremation, was thrown on amid applause^ 
shouts and cheers, the Queen looking on from door or window, 
laughing and heartily enjoying the wild, fantastic scene. Then 
followed dancing of reels around the bonfire, the witch meanwhile 
wasting into ashes and oblivion. The bonfire flares, smoulders, 
and burns low. The Queen withdraws, and the torch-bearers go 
down to the iron hall at the stables and finish off the festivities 
with a dance. 

BRIGHT AND CHEERY DISPOSITION. 

The Queen had a cheerful disposition. She loved a jest and 
a laugh, and she liked to see the people about her cheerful. 
While uncompromising in her hostility to gaming and other 
illicit pleasures, she did everything in her power to promote inno- 
cent amusements. Only once or twice did she do this on so great 
a scale at Balmoral, as when the Carl Rosa opera troupe were 
summoned from Dundee. But the household oftener furnished its 
own entertainments, theatricals, and tableaux vivants, to which 
people from the country houses and the tenantr^^ were invited. 

I have before me two programmes of such entertainments. 
One, of tableaux, on which I see the name of the late Duke of ^ 
Clarence. There is the- " Arab Encampment," in which Her 
Majesty's Indian attendants appear. There is a scene from 
* Macbeth" ; one from "Faust," in which Prince and Princess 
Henry of Battenberg take the parts of Faust and Marguerite. 
The overture to "Rob Roy" is played as the curtain rises on 
Ellen Douglas, Lady of the Lake, by one of the maids of honor. 



THE QUEEN'S DAILY LIFE AT BALMORAL. S51 

Tlife stage manager is the Hon. Alexander Yorke, wlio is some- 
times called the " Master of Revels" at the English Court. He 
is a clever reciter, and has great talent for organizing tableaux 
and theatricals. 

The second programme promises, in 1891, the performance 
by "Her Majesty's Servants" of the comedy "Barbara," and the 
farce "Cool as a Cucumber." These programmes are on grey 
paper, with a vignette of Balmoral Castle on one cover and the 
crown on the other, both in rose pink. The lettering is also 
in rose pink. 

The Queen was always present at the rehearsals, criticising, 
suggesting, laughing. Every one who has ever assisted in ama- 
teur theatricals knows the difficulties encountered in making all 
things move smoothly and in orderly fashion. And such will 
not be surprised to learn that on one occasion, when thunder 
and lightning entered into the background of the play, the 
thunder preceded the lightning by several perceptible seconds. 

A FAMOUS CIRCUS. 

• 

But of all the entertainments given at Balmoral, the account 
of none has so pleased me as that of Finder's Circus. Finder's 
was formerly a successful circus, but somehow it had run down, 
apparently through no fault of Finder, unless it were inability to 
cope with business, an inability he shared with many excellent 
men. At any rate, whatever the cause, the circus had steadilj^ 
declined till it was reduced to a few shabby caravans, with gilt 
much tarnished, and hopelessly dirty — dirt seeming to have an 
af&nity with fallen fortunes. In this plight it arrived and 
camped on the moor at Ballater. 

While moving to and from Braemar it had been met by the 
Queen. And I like to fancy that as she saw the caravans, and 
recalled, perhaps, their former splendor, her truly motherly heart 
went out to this one of her great family of subjects, and she 
resolved to put out her hand and raise his fallen fortunes. And 
Finder's Circus was summoned to perform at Balmoral. At first 
the great Ballater folk were incredulous of the news, for they had 



352 THE QUEEN'S DAILY LIFE AT BALMORAL. 

turned up their noses at the concern, and declined to expend their 
sixpences in its behalf. But they rallied to its help in good 
neighborly fashion, lending sundry scrubbing brushes for the 
cleaning that ensued. Caravans were turned inside out, corners 
were scoured, children were scrubbed, clothes Avere washed, rents 
were mended, new shoes were bought, and on the appointed day 
Finder's Circus started for Balmoral with as shining an aspect as 
Shakespeare's schoolboy. 

A field outside the gate and close by the Dee had been chosen 
for the performance. The Queen had despatched messengers to 
summon her tenantry from her three estates. The little Batten- 
berg children came from the Castle, together with all the children 
from manse, farmhouse and cottage. The Queen drove down in 
her carriage and sat through the two hours' performance, appa- 
rently with as much enjoyment as the children. The horses, 
though few, were good, and there was a delightful performing 
donkey ; and donkey, horses, and Finder all did their very best, 
warmed and cheered by the rays of Royalty. 
* 

WANTED TO BUY THE DONKEY. 

After it was over, Finder was summoned to Her Majesty's 
carriage, and in the course of the conversation that ensued she 
intimated her desire to buy the delightful performing donkey. 
But it was not his to sell, he regretfully said, "but I'll be very 
happy, your Majesty, to buy and train one for you." 

She made him a personal gift of money, besides that paid in 
the way of business by her commissioner, together with a jewelled 
scarf-pin, and he departed rejoicing. And ever after, doubtless, 
he headed his bills with, " Under the patronage of the Queen," 
and hundreds flocked to his circus who would never have dreamed 
of doing so had he not been summoned to Balmoral. In fact, 
after hearing the story, I resolved that if I were ever in the 
neighborhood of Finder's Circus, I would go and see it. But, 
alas ! even as I write word comes that the poor fellow is dead. 
Not long did he reap the fruits of the kind act of his Queen. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
The Queen's Hunting Lodges. 

THE Queen had four shiels, or hunting lodges, at greater or less 
distance from the Castle. " The Queen's Shiel " is the near- 
est and is three miles up Glen Gelder. I walked there one 
February day and was struck with its picturesque surroundings. 
Ivcaving the more sheltered walks in the park about Craig Gowan, 
we came out upon a wide, breezy moor, sloping gently up from the 
bottom of the glen, wherein are still to be seen ruins of crofters' . 
cottages with their green plots of land. 

In one of the larger plots a herd of wild deer were feeding, and 
shortly after, a group of four came bounding along, not seeing us 
until right upon us. One stag instantly leaped upon a high 
boulder and turned his startled head towards us, his whole figure, 
surmounted by the superb antlers clear cut against the blue winter's 

sky. 

FLED WITH SPLENDID LEAPS. 

The remaining three ranged themselves in a row, and, after 
gazing intent and motionless, for a moment or two, they sprang as 
by one impulse across the road, and fled with magnificent leaps 
over the heather and the Gelder, and so on up the sides of Loch- 
nagar, pausing now and then to turn and look back at us. 

We started a few brace of grouse, but grouse are not encour- 
aged where deer are stalked, as the sudden rise of a covey would 
startle the large game and betray the presence of the hunter. The 
road winds after a somewhat zigzag fashion up the glen, dipping 
into the bottom, and crossing a moss, out of which the cottars on 
the estate get their peat. A light snow had fallen the night before 
and lay on the lower slopes in beautiful contrast with the soft 
purple of the heather. 

The shiel stands directly upon the Gelder, a rapid, brawling 
stream running over a bed of boulders, and with here and there a 
silent pool. It has its source in a small lake in the bosom of Loch- 

23 353 



254 THE QUEEN'S HUNTING LODGES. 

nagar, above which hang precipices one thousand feet high, Byron's 
"steep frowning glories of dark Locknagar." The mountain 
takes its name from this loch (lake), which is said to signify " The 
loch of the sobbing and wailing," from the sounds that arise 
from it when swept by mountain winds. 

The Queen's estate stretches to the summit of Lochnagar, and 
Her Majesty considers this mountain the "gem " of the Bast High- 
lands. And, with its clearly-defined back and peak, and lofty 
precipices, it certainly possesses a distinction that the more lumpy 
Cairngorms lack ; and its dusky hue always marks it, even to the 
least observant eye. 

Its earlier name was " The White Mounth," and there is a 
prophetic couplet which says — 

* ' When the White Mounth frae snaw is clear 
Ye day o' doom is drawin' near. ' ' 

And the corrie within which the small loch lies, and which, 
with its frowning glories, is plainly seen, and seemingly not far 
from the shiel, keeps its snows through the year, even when 
the little plantation which encloses the shiel is green, and Her 
Majesty came here for the solitude of which she was so fond. 
She frequently drove here of a morning to write. At such times 
luncheon was sent up, with the necessary attendants, for no one 
lives here habitually. 

ARRANGEMENTS OF INTERIOR. 

" The Queen's Shiel" is the smallest of the four. Its name in 
Gaelic, " Ruidha na Bhan Righ," is cut in the lintel of the front 
door. You enter through this door into a small lobby, a door opens 
on each side into a small square room. These, with a small kitchen, 
make up the sum of the little biggin. 

The walls of the sitting and tea-rooms are lined with Balmoral 
tartan in wool, and the same tartan is used for the upholstery of 
a sofa and the covers of the centre tables. A plain carpet covers 
the floor. Family portraits, photographed or engraved, and in 
plain gilt frames, hang upon the walls. In its perfect simplicity it 
might be the home of a cottar. A high deer fence encloses the 



THE QUEEN'S HUNTING LODGES. 355 

plantation of mingled fir, larch, and bircli. A wide gate gives en- 
trance at the approach, and on the opposite side a wicket leads into 
a footpath running along the bank of the Gelder. 

" We walked along the footpath above the Gelder for a mile 
and a half, the dogs, which had come up, following us," writes the 
Queen in 1879. She had driven up with the Empress Eugenie, 
who was very " pleased with the little shiel." 

" When we came back, after walking for an hour, we had tea. 
Brown had caught some excellent trout and cooked them with oat- 
meal," which, we are told, " the Empress liked extremely and said 
would be her dinner." 

ROMANTIC BRIDLE-PATHS. 

The Gelder is famed for its trout, and the cooking them in 
oatmeal is a Scotch fashion, to the toothsomeness of which many 
can bear testimony. A small stable for horses and ponies is attached 
to the shiel. The ascent of Lochnagar can be made from here, and 
a bridle-path also leads over the hills to the Glasallt Shiel. With 
all these bridle-paths Her Majesty made familiar acquaintance in 
her mountaineering days. 

As we lingered, pleased with the atmosphere of perfect solitude 
and peace, no sound save the ceaseless rush and brattle of the 
Gelder broke the absolute silence. 

The Danzig Shiel lis reached from the Castle by the beauti- 
ful old road leading thither through the forest of the Balloch Buie. 
This is the road closed to the public by private Act of Parliament 
after the purchase of the estate by Prince Albert, he at the same 
time entering into an agreement to build a new bridge across the 
Dee, and to widen and otherwise improve the road on the north 
bank, all of which was done at a cost of $25,000. 

Entering the Balmoral gate, we turned off into a back road 
running above the flower-gardens and the Queen's Cottage, and a 
brief drive brought us to the West Lodge, where we joined the 
Queen's road from the Castle. 

The Balloch Buie is a remnant of the old Caledonian Forest, 
and is always named with a certain note of respect in his voice by 



356 THE QUEEN* S HUNTING LODGES. 

the native. The road runs, now on a level with the Dee, now on 
a hillside, from which we see far below the liquid blue of its rapid 
waters. 

Everything indicates that we are entering the heart of a great 
forest. No sight or sound of an outer world greets us. Great 
Scotch firs shut us in on every hand. The atmosphere is loaded 
with their resinous fragrance. Where the beams of the low-run- 
ning sun strike them, their red bark glows like the decaying em- 
bers of an ingle nook. In cooler lights it is a reddish purple. 
Their tall, straight trunks have a columnar aspect, and on a hill- 
side, as you look up, you fancy you are gazing through vast por- 
ticoes into the mysterious depths of prodigious halls, wherein once 
dwelt prehistoric giants. 

In fact, you may fancy anything you like, as you find your- 
self seized upon, taken possession of, by the spirits of the Balloch 
Buie. Now and then an ancient birch, gnarled, crooked, and 
patched with black moss, breaks the uniformity of the pines. 

SCOTTISH MOSS AND HEATHER. 

The very earth looks as though it had been the playground of 
giants. It is covered with boulders thinly coated with heather and 
cranberry, the vivid green of the latter serving to lighten the 
somewhat sombre atmosphere that broods eternally under the dark 
roof of firs. Moss mingles with the heather. Here roam herds 
of wild deer, and with the knowledge obtained even from a passing 
carriage, one quickly sees that deer-stalking is no child's play, but 
downright hard work, calling for man's utmost powers of physical 
endurance. Here the sons and sons-in-law of the Queen, took 
their autumn sport. 

An attempt is made to keep the deer within bounds by high 
wire fences on the outskirts of moor and forest, but when frosts are ' 
keen and snows deep they often break through these, though at 
such seasons they are fed by the keepers. 

" Won't you be sorry to have them shot ?" I asked of a 
daughter of one of the Queen's keepers, who had been telling me 
of the deer that came daily to be fed and fondled. 



THE QUEEN'S HUNTING LODGES. 35t 

" O, in the spring time they will go back to the herd and grow 
wild again, and I sha'n't know them from the others," was the 
reply. 

After a successful day's deer-stalking comes at night the stag- 
dance. The deer are tossed upon the lawn not far from the Queen's 
entrance. The people assemble ; Avhiskey circulates ; the gillies, 
bearing torches in their hands, dance reels ; the red light splashes 
upon the stags, the kilted dancers, the green sward, and flares 
across the white castle walls. 

When Queen Elizabeth of Roumania — the " Carmen Sylva " 
of literature — was visiting at Balmoral, there was a stag dance, 
which the poetry-loving Queen witnessed from the great entrance 
with her hostess. Queen Victoria. "And," added the retainer who 
told me of it, " it was the only time I ever saw two Queens 
together." 

This drive through the Balloch Buie was a favorite one with 
her majesty. In an opening a clear spring bubbles up. Is this 
one of the places where the Royal tea-kettle was boiled ? A drive 
to tea either in the forest or at the shiel was a common pleasure. 

A COSY TEA-ROOM. 

The Danzig Shiel, the home of the head forester and his 
family, stands in a wide open space in the forest. The part de- 
voted to the Queen is approached by a passage from the forester's 
side ; it has, however, its own entrance. The little tea-room is fin- 
ished in Balloch Buie pine, walls and ceiling. Its draperies for 
window, table, and mantel are, like those of the Glen Gelder Shiel, 
all of Balmoral tartan ; so is a fire-screen, framed in Balloch Buie 
fir. The grey carpet with crimson border harmonizes with the other 
details. Observe tea-cups decorated with a bit of fir and a cone. 

On the lobby wall hangs a sketch in colors of "Victoria," a 
deer found when a fawn by the Queen in a gravel-pit up Glen 
Muick, and brought home in her carriage. This was in 1877, and 
it lived until 1887 as a pet on the estate. On its pretty collar are 
the initial V.R. Tradition intimates that, like many petted favor- 
ites, it was not possessed of the utmost amiability of temper. 



358 THE QUEEN'S HUNTING LODGES. 

Not far from tlie sliiel are tlie falls of the Garbh Allt. The 
name signifies " the rough burn," and the succession of falls are 
more like cascades. The water, pouring over its bed of rough, 
jagged rock, is torn into splendor, and runs on sparkling with 
iridescent foam between its banks of fir and beech. 

"This," said our young forester and guide, skipping down a 
slight declivity, " is where the Queen and Princess like to look at 
the Falls." 

They are celebrated for their beauty, and anyone who likes 
can visit them at any time during the Queen's absence. When 
she is in residence they can be visited daily until 3 P. M. They 
are four miles from Braemar, and it is rather a favorite morning 
walk with visitors there to the Garbh Allt and back. They are 
reached only by the old Bridge of Dee, a picturesque stone struct- 
ure rising in the centre, one of several such built by General 
Wade in 1752, on the line of his military road from Blairgowrie 
to Inverness. This bridge was now the property of the Queen, 
but she had a private bridge a little farther down. 

"THE QUEEN IS KIND." 

To a remark that it was kind of her Majesty to keep these 
Falls open to strangers, the mistress of the shiel replied, " The 
Queen is kind. I do not think she would do an unkind thing." 

Her Majesty sketched many bits of scenery about and includ- 
ing the Danzig Shiel, some of which she sent to the Chicago 
Bxposition. 

To reach the AUtnaguibhsaich and Glasallt Shiels we drove 
up Glen Muick on the Balmoral and Birkhall side. The public 
road runs up the opposite bank. As we near the Falls of Muick 
the glen contracts, and the musical splash and gurgle of falling 
waters are heard. The falls are about forty feet high, and the 
gorge is so narrow that in summer, when the flow is small, they 
can be easily stepped over at the point where they make the 
plunge over the edge of the rocks. 

Flowers in great variety and abundance are found just here. 
The primrose is among them, a favorite flower of the Queen. She 



THE QUEEN'S HUNTING LODGES. 3o» 

had them all about the Castle in their season. The ferns, too, are 
abundant and varied. Her Majest}^ many a time and often took 
her afternoon tea here, and it would be difficult to imagine a more 
charming tea room. 

Above the falls the glen Avidens, and the Muick, hitherto a 
bickering, brattling stream, slips silently and smoothly by between 
peaty banks. Glen Muick signifies "the glen of the sow," and 
wild boars once presumably roamed here. But why the little 
farmsteading we pass shortly before reaching the shield should be 
called Inschnabobart, "The field of the poet's cow," tradition does 
not say. It is the highest cultivated land in the glen and is 1,300 
feet above sea level. 

ACCIDENT ON THE ROAD.' 

Just here by Inschnabobart Ford comes in another road from 
the Castle, the road upon which a carriage accident took place the 
year succeeding the Prince Consort's death. The Queen was 
returning at night from the Glasallt Shiel, when the carriage was 
upset. The coachman and John Brown were the only servants in 
attendance, the others having gone on. One of them (Kennedy), 
looking back, observed that the carriage lights had disappeared, 
and instantly returned to the rescue, thereby saving a long wait 
till assistance and a fresh carriage could be procured. 

Fortunately no one was seriously injured ; but the carriage 
lamps had proved of so little avail in lighting the track that ever 
after, when driving at night over these mountain roads, the car- 
riage was preceded by an outrider carrying a pole with a lamp 
suspended from each end. Her Majesty, with that readiness to 
acknowledge a service so characteristic of her, afterwards presented 
Kennedy with a gold watch. 

Grouse are shot in the upper glen, and it is from here that the 
first of the season are forwarded on the 12th of August to Windsor. 
Venison, grouse and salmon are supplied the royal table from the 
Highland estate ; and on the day of the opening of the Dee fishing, 
February loth, one or more fine salmon are usually en route for 
Osborne or Windsor on the late train. The solitude as we ap- 



360 THE QUEEN'S HUNTING LODGES. 

preached the upper part of the glen was absolute. Only one 
" lum'' sends up its smoke in the neighborhood of the Alltnagui- 
bhsaich, and that is the keeper's at Spital of Muick. 

This shiel, with its long Gaelic name, so called from the 
stream that flows by it, and which signifies "the burn of the fir 
trees," is familiarly known as " The Hut." And such it was a 
hundred years ago, when it was roofed with sods, and had but one 
chimney. It was enlarged before it became the property of the 
Prince Consort, and consisted of three rooms and a detached 
kitchen. The Prince made further additions, and it now has two 
public rooms and half a dozen or so bed rooms, besides accommoda- 
tions for the keeper who lives here the year round, and a detached 
building for the gillies, called "The Gillies' Hall." It looks like 
two small cottages joined together. 

WADED IN AND SHOT THE STAG. 

Above the front door are the antlers of a stag killed by the 
Duke of Edinburgh. The wounded animal had taken to the water 
of the Dubh Loch, and as the Prince was the only one of the hunt- 
ing party that could swim he went in and gave the stag its finish- 
ing touch. 

The Hut is about a mile from the foot of Loch Muick, a view 
of which is had from the front windows through an opening in the 
plantation. A green lawn slopes down in front. The Queen and 
Prince Consort often spent a few days here. They rowed upon the 
lake, fished for trout, climbed the neighboring heights, and explored 
those farther distant ; shot a deer or two perhaps. 

"We were home at a little past seven," writes the Queen of 
one of these rows in the twilight, " and it was so still and pretty as 
we entered the wood and saw the light flickering from our humble 
little abode." 

They were staying at the Hut when the news of the death of 
the Duke of Wellington reached them. After the death of the 
Prince Consort the Queen made no pronounced stay here. It is 
now used chiefly as a hunting box by King Edward, and the prin- 
cipal bed room is called his room. The upholstery — bed curtains, 



THE QUEEN'S HUNTING LODGES. 361 

window draperies, etc., — of the rooms is of chintz in which blue 
predominates. I saw a pretty coffee service with the three feathers 
of the Prince of Wales in blue. I observed, too, a chintz in Victo- 
ria tartan. The Queen occasionally lent this exceedingly cosy 
little lodge to a friend for the season. 

A path leads from behind the Hut to the summit of Lochna- 
o-ar, and is the usual route thither from Ballater and the east. It 
was made by ordei of the Queen in 1849. It runs between the 
lodge and the Gillies' Hall to a gate in the deer fence, and there is 
no necessity for any one passing the front of the lodge. This, 
however, sometimes happens, and a writer upon Lochnagar sug- 
gests that finger posts would doubtless prevent this, at least on the 
part of the well-intentioned tourist, though he pertinently adds 
that " for persons who will flatten their noses against window 
panes, the better to examine a private house, finger posts would be 

superfluous." 

ROADS AS SMOOTH AS FLOORS. 

A drive of three miles took us from The Hut to the Glasallt 
Shiel. This road for the greater part of the way lies along Loch 
Muick, is built up, in fact, above the water, and guarded on that 
side by a strong paling. All these roads we passed over are on the 
Queen's estate, her private roads, and built by her ; all first-rate 
roads, over which our victoria rolled smoothly without jolt. The 
day was perfect ; a late March day in the early spring ; cloudless, 
breezeless, genial; warm enough to have the top down, and 
demanding no extra wraps. 

Loch Muick is nearly three miles long by half a mile wide, 
and lies in the heart of the hills, which dip their feet perpendicu- 
larly into its waters. At the head of the Loch, on a spit of land 
formed apparently by the wash of the Glas AUt — " the grey burn " 
stands the Glasallt Shiel, the remotest, and in all respects the 
most solitary, of the four. We crossed the burn by a stone bridge 
as we entered the enclosure. Over the front door is cut — "Victoria 
Regina," 1868. 

The Queen in her " Leaves " gives an account of the house- 
warming, October ist of that year; the dancing, the drinking to 



362 • THE QUEEN'S HUNTING LODGES. 

the " fire-kindling," and all the gay, pretty ceremony ; pathetically 
adding that this was " the first widow's house," and that she could 
never have stayed alone at the Alltnaguibhsaich, where she had 
passed so many happy days with her husband. 

Prince Albert was very fond of this immediate neighborhood, 
and intended at some time to build a shiel here, and in erecting this 
the Queen was simply carrying out his wishes. There was a small) 
lodge here in this day, where the two occasionally lunched on their 
mountaineering expeditions. The keeper who lived there was a 
bachelor, and cared for his own biggin, and there is a legend that 
he kept his fire-irons in paper in the intervals of the Royal visits, 
hastily unwrapping them when the approach of the pair was an- 
nounced. There is still a keeper's lodge just behind the shiel. 

A PICTURESQUE FALL. 

Reaching an altitude of about 700 feet above Loch Muick, we 
came to the Falls of the Glas Allt, which make a clear leap of 150 
feet. The Queen has often visited these Falls. They are " quite 
equal to those of the Bruar at Blair," she says. And the Bruar at 
Blair is "The Bruar Water " of Burns, which he makes to apostro- 
phise itself thus : 

' ' Here, foaming down the shelvy rocks, 
In twisting strength I rin ; 
There, high my boiling torrent smokes 

Wild roaring o'er a linn. 
Enjoying large each spring and well, 

As nature gave them me, 
lam, altho' I say't mysel'. 
Worth gaun a mile to see. " 

Snows were still melting on the moor above, and the waters^ 
iced by nature's own process, shed a refreshing coolness as they 
took their leap, breaking into foata and spray worth gaun a mile, 
indeed, to see! worth the thirteen miles we had come, most 
certainly ! 



w 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Child Life at Balmoral Castle. 

E ALL know tliat the Queen was fond of cliildren, uiJ cHat 
she was to them a most delightful companion. Sh-? liked^ 
to give them pleasure. She never suffered a birthday amou^ her 
many grandchildren to pass without recognition of it, often by a 
little feast. And they, in turn, arranged their tableaux and little 
dramatic pieces to commemorate the birthday of their beloved 
grandmother and Queen. 

On May-day, 1888 (May 12th, which is the old May-day), as 
Her Majesty was driving in the neighborhood of Windsor, she 
met some village children marching with their May-pole and 
singing their songs. She stopped her carriage and asked ^heni 
to sing to her, which they readily and gladly did, of course, and 
she gave them ten shillings for the feast, which is an indispen- 
sable part of the May-day village party. 

And little Donald — he is big Donald now — remembers how 
he went up to the Castle one day from his mother's cottage to 
receive a gift Her Majesty had brought for that dear mother. 
Donald had been taught his "manners," and stood up before the 
Queen, respectful but sturdy, Justin the way Her Majesty liked, 
and with his little "cocket bonnet," as they call it, jammed under 
his arm like any little gentleman. The Queen espied the cap 
(Glengary), and remarked a newness of aspect, the gloss of 
which so soon passes from a boy's cap. 

" Ah, and so you've got a new cap, Donald," she said. And 
Donald brought it promptly forward to display it. 

"Yes, it was a new cap. And my father made it," says he, 
with no little pride. 

His father was the tailor on the estate, and a very good one, 
as Donald was aware, and made not only caps for his little son 
but kilts for the young Princes. Donald's cap was finished with 

a bindinsr of tartan. 

^ 363 



364 CHILD LIFE AT BALMORAL. 

The Queen's own children were young when they first came 
to Balmoral, and it was a busy place in those days. Each child 
had his or her favorite pursuit aside from the daily lessons ; 
painting, sketching, photography, gardening. A soldier was 
stationed there at times to drill the young Princes. And they 
throve, and grew strong and hearty on the fine mountain air, and 
the "porridge" of oatmeal to which their residence at Balmoral 
^introduced them. The stillroom maid was taught, too, to make 
oatcakes for their eating. 

It is doubtless owing to their frequent sojourns here, with 
the out-of-door life and plain habits of living, that the family owe 
their high average of good health. At certain hours of the day 
they played with the cottage children. 

" O, WE'LL HELP," SAID THE PRINCESSES. 

I was sitting by one day when a cottager, whose childhood 
was passed on the Queen's estate, was mixing and baking her 
oatcakes, and she said : "I remember one day I was making the 
oatcakes for my mother, when the Princesses Helena and Louise 
came for me to go and play with them. But my mother said I 
must finish the oatcakes fir^^t." 

" O, we'll help," said the Princesses, who before this had had 
their little cooking lessons and teas at Osborne. 

And Helena proceeded to tend and turn the cakes that were 
already baking on the griddle over the fire —the only true and gen- 
uine way to bake oatcakes — and became very hot and rosy in the 
process, while Louise, with that spirit of exploration which distin- 
guishes her, rummaged for an additional cake cutter. Nothing 
could be found, however, but the teapot lid, which proved too 
deep, and the dough stuck fast and "messed," till the good 
mother, fearing a practical illustration of the proverb, " Too 
many cooks spoil the broth," sent off the three, and finished the 
oatcakes herself. 

After the children had grown up, came those of the Prince of 
Wales at Abergeldie, and of the Duke of Bdinburg at Birkhall, 
so that the Castle was never really without its child life. 



CHILD LIFE AT BALMORAL. 3(J5 

Then tlie children of the Princess Beatrice played in the 
old places where their mother's childhood was made happy. Two 
of the fonr were born at Balmoral. The Little Princess Victoria 
Eugenie, whose birth took place October 24, 1887, was the first 
Royal child born in Scotland since 1600. And she had at her 
christening a third name bestowed upon her, a Gaelic name, 
because of the place of her nativity. " Princess Kna " she is. 
called at Balmoral. 

The cottars and tenantry presented this little lady with a 
cradle at a cost of sixty dollars. On the third or fourth day after 
the arrival of the baby the cottage people are invited by twos to 
welcome her or him, and a wagonette is sent to convey any of the 
very old women who cannot walk. There is a perennial interest in 
babies, and although billions have entered this world since the 
advent of the first, that fact does not seem to detract, luckily, 
from the interest attaching to each fresh comer. 

A BIRTH AND BONFIRE. 

In October, 1891, a little Prince was born. At his birth a 

bonfire was kindled on Craig Gowan. Gillies, keepers, cottars 

men, women, and children, marched up preceded by the music of 
the bagpipes, carrying their flaming torches of pine. After the 
bonfire was kindled they fell to dancing on the flat, rocky space 
reserved for that purpose. A small cottage lassie told mc that 
she assisted on the occasion, and footed a reel in honor of the 
event. 

The baptism of the little Prince took place October 29th. 
The last royal Prince baptized in Scotland previous to this was 
that much-lamented son of James VI., the Prince Henry, beloved 
of Sir Walter Raleigh, of whom the Prince said, concerning his 
long detention in the Tower, that if he were King he would 
not cage so fine a bird. That christening was in 1594. 

The ceremony of 189 1 was in the drawing-room of the 
Castle. The Queen held the child, and the officiating clergyman 
was Dr. Cameron Lees, of St. Giles', Edinburgh, Chaplain to the 
Queen and of the Order of the Thistle. The service was of 



366 CHILD LIFE AT BALMORAL. 

course Presbyterian. A picture of this cliristening lias been 
painted, by order of tbe Queen, by Sir George Reid, President of 
the Scotcb Royal Academy. He made preparatory studies of the 
drawing-room witb its tartans, for Her Majesty always insisted 
upon adherence to facts in these historical pictures, never permit- 
ting accuracy to be sacrificed to the picturesque. 

The painting does not lack color or picturesqueness of cos- 
tume, however, for aside from the distinctive dress of the clergy- 
man and the handsome dresses of the ladies. Prince Henry of 
Battenberg wore the Royal Stuart tartan, and, at the special 
desire of the Queen, Francie Clark, her personal attendant, and 
Donald Stewart, her head-keeper, were introduced into the picture, 
both wearing the court dress of Royal Stuart. And the Munshi, 
her Indian secretary, appears in Oriental costume. 

The baby, the centre of the ceremonial, wore the white 
christening robe which has served for all the Royal Family, and 
the gold font used was the one made for the christening of the 
Queen's children. The child received a Scotch name, and is 
called Prince Donald. Many of the tenantry and cottars were 
invited to the christening, coming in from the distant shiels. 

DONKEY CART AND PONY. 

The Battenberg children have their donkey-cart, and there 
was a small cream-colored pony at their occasional disposal, 
which was presented to Her Majesty by the proprietor of Sanger's 
Circus. Her name was Isabella, and she had a harness of red 
morocco and gold, which exactly suited her complexion. When 
harnessed the team was an exceedingly jolly little affair. As to 
other sources of amusement and pleasure, they had those com- 
'.mon to all children on a beautiful country estate, such as are 
simply inexhaustible and never pall. They, too, played with the 
cottage children, and a drive around in the donkey-cart to say 
good-bye to these always preceded their departure. 

Kvery autumn saw the two little children of the late Duke 
of Albany at Birkhall. The little Duke was a bonnie little 
laddie. The "Seaforth Highlanders " was the "Duke's Own," 



CHILD LIFE AT BALMORAL. 867 

and his little son succeeded to his honors. When he was six 
years old, a detachment of these were stationed at the barracks in 
Ballater as the Queen's Guard of Honor. One day it was noised 
abroad that the small Duke Avas coming to inspect the barracks 
and review the guard, and quite a crowd were assembled at the 
parade when the hour arrived. It was quite delightful, I was 
assured, to see the little fellow in his uniform, and to hear him 
give the orders in his child voice to the big men, who doubtless 
enjoyed it as much as he did. Very different, indeed, from the 
broomstick guns and ragged regiment that commonl}^ fall to the 
urchin of a military turn of mind ! 

These children, like all those of the Royal Family, were 
simply trained — "humbly" trained, says a good cottager. They 
had no special maid, and were taught to dress and wait upon them- 
selves. At the same time they were well instructed, and trained 
in all desirable accomplishments. Little Princess Alice was 
quite an accomplished horsewoman, and liked nothing better 
than to ride her mother's great horse. The Duchess made a 
companion of her children, as all true mothers like to do. 

LITTLE DUKE AND HIS SAIL BOAT. 

An amusing anecdote of the little Duke came to my ears. 
Like all children, he liked to dabble in water and sail boats, and 
the Muick was conveniently near for such purposes. One day, a 
neighboring cottar had been scrubbing her pots and kettles in 
that poetic stream, a not infrequent habit with those whose cot- 
tages are near a burn. I remember watching for some time one 
day two farm maids scouring kettles in the Gairn, which flowed 
beside the farmhouse. 

Well, this woman had finished her scrubbing, and gone 
away, leaving her scrubbing brush on the bank, never dreaming 
that a small yachtsman was to appear and appropriate it. But 
the little Duke found it. It was a fine large scrubbing brush, 
and would doubtless float. He tried it. It floated. It not only 
floated, but sailed most beautifully, with bristles majestically 
elevated — a charming ship. 



S68 CHILD LILE AT BALMORAL. 

He sailed it for some time, when, unhappily, it floated into 
the current and was gone ! gone on its way to the Dee and the 
German Ocean. And great was the wrath of the owner when 
she heard of this departure. She proclaimed it abroad, and the 
little boy's exploit coming to the Duchess's ears, she at once 
decreed that a new brush must be bought to replace that lost, 
and the little Duke must pay for it out of his — somewhat limited 
— pocket-money. 

He was accordingly taken by his tutor to a Ballater shop, 
and asked to select a brush as near like the departed one as was 
possible. He made his selection. The price was ascertained. 

"And now you are to pay for it," sa3^s the tutor. 

"But I haven't any money," was the pathetic reply. 

" I will lend you some," says the stern tutor. 

Let us hope that the Duchess privately cancelled the debt. 

OPENING A BRIDGE WITH CHEERS. 

The Duchess, with her children, opened a suspension foot- 
bridge across the Dee. But few people were present, and the 
ceremony, though pretty, was of the simplest. A brief speech or 
two was followed by cheers for the Duchess, and then some one 
said, "Three cheers for the bairns !" and I was much amused at 
the perfect gravity with which they were received by the little 
Duke. The little Princess smiled, but not a glimmer pierced the 
solemnity of his countenance as he took off his cocket bonnet 
with its eagle feather, and bowed. Such a wee little eaglet ! 

It will be remembered that he was born after the death of his 
father. Prince Leopold, and the Queen herself hastened to Clare- 
mont to welcome the little fatherless boy. She held him in her 
arms at his christening, and had a peculiar tenderness for this 
one of her large flock. At Abergeldie Castle the children of the 
Duke of Connaught used to spend the autumn. The two older 
were left in the care of the Queen when the Duke and Duchess 
were in India, and there is a very pleasing photograph of Her 
Majesty, taken with these children, in her character of grand- 
mother. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Comings and Goings of Royalty. 

BALLATBR is the terminus of the Deeside railway, and a 
stream of personages more or less distinguished was continu- 
ally passing through the little station to and from Balmoral 
Castle when the Queen was in residence there. Members of the 
Cabinet — Sir William Harcourt, the Earl of Rosebery, Lord Kim- 
berly, each coming in his turn, in accordance with the etiquette 
that requires a minister in attendance upon the sovereign when out^ 
of England. 

Ladies-in-waiting and gentlemen-in-waiting, their time of ser- 
vice being over, went and gave place to others. Private guests came 
and went — old and dear friends and attendants of the Queen, like 
Lady Jane Churchhill. Miss Kate Marsden, of Siberian leper fame, 
was '' commanded " by the Queen to Balmoral, that Her Majesty 
might hear from her own lips the story of her adventures, and her 
hopes concerning the proposed leper settlement. 

MUSICIANS BEFORE THE QUEEN. 

Violinists, vocalists and pianists, also " commanded " for the 
entertainment of the Royal household, arrived, performed, and 
departed. 

A Privy Council is held. But so far as the public, represented 
by the lookers-on in the station square, is concerned, they come 
and go and no one is the wiser, for there is nothing to distinguish 
the Lord Chancellor from the violinist except the latter's violin 
cases. But when Royalty arrives or departs, it is unmistakable. 

The first hint that it is expected is the unrolling of the crim- 
son carpet that stretches from the main entrance of the station to 
the line. From that moment small groups begin to gather in the 
square, summoned by the " little birds," time out of mind the 
bearer of secret intelligence. At least there has been no other 
messenger. Policemen also appear as by magic. They guard the 
sacred carpet, and however strong your curiosity to see the expected 
24 369 



370 COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY. 

arrival, there is no use trying to enter the station or to approach it 

within certain limits. You are simply ordered back, and retreat. 

This warning-off may seem an unnecessary precaution, but 

not to one who has ever been caught in a British crowd. The 

British crowd is intensely democratic, and would not hesitate to 

hustle Royalty off the platform in its determination to get a sight 

of it. If you are going on the same train — which may happen, as 

Royalty does not, with the exception of the Queen, always have a 

special — if you go on the same train, well and good. You can 

enter. But you must bid good-bye to your friends on the outside 

of the station. And if it be an incoming train, and your friend 

has been absent years in India or Australia, and you are eager to 

take him by the hand the very instant the train stops, you will 

have to restrain your emotion until he gets well outside the sacred 

limits. 

PEOPLE GATHER TO SEE THEM OFF. 

However, to-day it is an outgoing train, and the royalties to be 
sent off are Prince and Princess Henry of Prussia, who have been 
at Balmoral a fortnight. Both the Prince and Princess are grand- 
children of the Queen, the former being the sailor-son of the Em- 
press Frederick, and the latter a daughter of the lamented Princess 
Alice. As the time of departure draws near, the groups in the 
square increase in size and numbers. They hang about the post- 
office in the Albert Memorial building. They lean against the 
railing opposite — a row of laborers with hands in their pockets and 
pipes in their mouths. 

There is a group at the photographer's corner, where a turn in 
the Balmoral road gives a coin of vantage. Another at the opposite 
corner, one of which is a stout old woman in a white mutch, who 
never fails to appear on these occasions, and who, although she has 
watched countless arrivals and departures of Royalty, is just as 
eager as though this were the first instead of the five hundredth. 
But somehow there is a tremendous fascination in. the thing, and 
however intensely republican you may be, and however much you 
may turn up your nose at this tagging at the heels of Royalty, like 
the old woman, you go and do it yourself every time. 



COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY. 371 

The Balmoral luggage-van first arrives, a huge green machine, 
closed. It is drawn by four horses, on two of which postillions are 
mounted. It draws up, and unloads from a door behind. What a 
lot of luggage ! Enough to equip a small army, and all in small 
receptacles. Not a Saratoga trunk among it. But portmanteaux, 
hat boxes, Gladstone bags, dressing cases, without end. 

After the luggage-van, arrive, in different carriages, the little 
Prince and attendants ; the lady and gentleman-in-waiting ; the 
maids, both of their Highnesses and of the two last-named fun :tion- 
aries ; the Queen's equerry in a trap by himself. The carriage of 
the Duchess of Albany drives up ; she come to see them off. 

THE WEIRD NOTES OF THE BAGPIPE. 

Now are heard the notes of a bagpipe, accompanied by the 
tramp of soldierly feet, and the Queen's Guard of Honor is seen 
approaching from the direction of the barracks, a detachment of 
the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. They advance right 
gallantly, their spats white as pipe-clay can make them. Above 
their white spats are the pink-and-white plaid stockings, Vv'ith the 
little skene dhu sticking out of the top. The delicate white and 
pink and the bare knees contrast broadly with the dark Argyle 
tartan of the kilt. Their jackets are scarlet, with yellow cuffs and 
collars, and a tall feather hat with one white plume surmounts the 
whole. 

They form in the square, and still we wait. The suspense is 
not exactly awful, but every eye is painfully fixed on the Bal- 
moral road. Women advance into the square as near as they dare 
to the wheel tracks. The group opposite the entrance and com- 
manding the passage and red carpet consolidate. 

But " Hush ! hark ! a deep sound " as of horses' feet, and an 
outrider appears over the railway bridge, galloping as though, to 
quote from the eminent James Anthony Fronde, as though "what 
was once called the devil " was after him. He is on a large grey, 
and how perfectly groomed are both man and horse ! 

And just behind them more greys, four of them, splendid 
beasts, also coming at full gallop, and bringing at their heels the 



872 COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY. 

Queen's private carriage. On two of tliem are seated postillions in 
black and white : white duck trousers and black velvet jackets, 
with close round caps of black velvet, touched up with silver 
bands. 

Two footmen in light overcoats are in the rumble. In the 
open carriages are seated their Royal Highnesses. And it must 
be confessed the first sight of them is a dreadful damper on our ex- 
pectations. They are so extraordinarily like the rest of humanity ! 
Not so good-looking, in fact, as some of us. For even Prince Henry 
does not carry out the tradition relative to Hohenzollern beauty and 
magnificence of person ; and the English Royal Family, as every- 
body knows, is not handsome. 

TWO FAMOUS RULERS. 

However, we rally as we reflect that in Prince Henry we see 
the grandson of the Queen of Great Britain and the brother of the 
Emperor of Germany — than whom where shall we find two more 
illustrious governors. 

As the carriage dashes up to the station the guard salutes ; 
there is a clatter of steel, the colors dip, the pipers play a strain. 
Off go all hats, that is all civil hats ; the footmen deposit there's in 
the rumble ; we observe that one is bald, but luckily the wind is 
from the sweet south, though were it a stiff north-easter etiquette 
would remain unchanged. 

Prince Henry, as he leaves the carriage, comes forward and 
speaks with the of&cer in command. When the late Grand Duke 
of Hesse, the " Louis" of the early Balmoral days, visited Deeside, 
he used to go down the ranks and speak to each soldier, and won 
all their hearts by so doing. But Prince Henry limits his courte- 
sies to the captain. They cross the red carpet and enter the saloon, 
car, the group opposite craning their necks for a last glimpse of 
the royal backs. The signal is given. The train moves off. 

The piper tunes up and the guard march away to the music of 
" The Girl I Left Behind Me." The crowd melts and disappears. 
The Queen's carriage vanishes over the railway bridge. The rooks 
that somehow always congregate overhead on these occasions sep- 



COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY. 373 

arate with vociferous caws. It was all very pretty, we think as we 

walk off, in its setting of heather-topped hills sunk in forests bright 

with autumn tints ; and we resolve that we will come next time, 

which we do, and see it all over again, the only change being in the 

occupants of the Queen's carriage. 

Royalty comes and goes on other than railway occasions. 

The pretty four-in-hand given by the Balmoral tenantry to Princess 

Beatrice at the time of her marriage is often seen driving about 

Ballater, stopping at the photographer's or the door of some old 

servant. 

THE ROYAL EQUIPAGE. 

And any day, turning a corner, perhaps, you come suddenly 
upon an outrider, who is followed by a carriage, bearing the crown on 
its panels and drawn by a pair of greys. Very likely there will be 
three people in the carriage, a lady-in-waiting, one of the Princesses, 
or a visitor. But you look only at the short figure in black. For 
there sits the Queen of Great Britain and Empress of India, the 
first lady in the land, and by other right, too, than of hereditary 
sovereignty, by the right of imperial womanhood. For whatever 
else Victoria I. of England was, she was above and beyond all a 
woman ; and women throughout the civilized world can point with 
pride to the sovereign lady of Great Britain as a complete refuta- 
tion of the monstrous assertion that a woman cannot fulfil a public 
function except at the price of her womanhood. 

As she drives somewhat slowly through the village, the people 
come to the doors of their shops and houses, and the children look 
up from their play. But there is no demonstration. She wishes 
to come and go like any private citizen, so far as she can, and her 
good Highlanders respect her wishes. 

The Queen's train, as it is made up at Ballater, is somewhat' 
imposing. It is drawn by two engines. Aside from the Queen^s' 
two carriages there are nine others, and added to these, two guard 
and luggage vans. Very nearly in the centre are the Queen's car- 
riages. In entering the rear, you step into the compartment , de- 
voted to the women in attendance. Ordinarily, the steps of rail- 
way cars are stationary, but those of the Queen's carriage are 



374 COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY. 

dropped, and wlien unused folded into a leather box. Tlie hajndles 
of the doors are heavily gilded and handsome. 

All the compartments are thickly padded, walls and ceiling. 
The ceilings are in white silk. This first compartment is uphol- 
stered in fawn, and has two long couches which can be converted 
into four comfortable night couches. Here the Queen's dresser 
rides, together with one of the wardrobe maids. These wardrobe 
maids alternately do night duty ; that is, one always sleeps within 
the Queen's call, and the one whose night it is to serve rides in 
this compartment, a door at the other end leading directly into the 
Queen's bed-room. 

The walls of this royal sleeping-room are upholstered in dark 
red. The shades are green. So are the beds which stand, two of 
them, either side of the narrow passage at the upper end of the 
compartment. The Princess Beatrice alwa3^s shared the compart- 
ments of the Queen. An electric bell was within reach of the 

beds. 

WOOD WORK AND FURNITURE. 

It was here, between the bed-room and sitting-room, that the 
big Englishman who took me through the carriages, and who had 
the train in charge, called my attention to an extremely beautiful 
door which, he said, was made of "Ungarian hash." A lavatory 
separates the bed and sitting-rooms. This is finished in light 
wood, and the bowls and other toilet receptacles are of silver plate. 
The sitting-room is upholstered in light blue silk of that vivid hue 
called "royal blue." Blinds and curtains are of blue; so are the 
lambrequins which are surmounted with the Royal Arms. 

Large easy-chairs, a sofa, and two tables make up the furni- 
ture. There are stationary lamps with blue shades and a clock. 
A door leads from the sitting-room into the compartment where 
the personal attendant rides. In this compartment are four deep- 
cushioned chairs which can be converted into night couches. 
Thick rugs cover the floors of all the compartments. There is no' 
particular splendor about these interiors ; they are handsome, solid, 
comfortable; in one word, "English." 

The body of each carriage is almost black on the outside, 



COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY. 375 

highly polished, and bears in colors the Royal Arms, the Scotch 
thistle, and the star of India. The upper part is in panels of white 
and gilt, and there is a narrow carved cornice in black, with here 
and there a gilt lion's head or crown in high relief. The ends of 
the beams, or whatever they may be technically called, which pro- 
'ject at the bottom of the carriage, are also finished in large gilt 
lions' heads. The running gear is painted to simulate gilt. 

The Queen's carriages were built with a view to noiselessness 
and the greatest possible smoothness of motion. They have five 
floors ; two of wood laid upon each other at right angles, two of 
rubber, and one of cork. The thick padding of the inside also 
tends to noiselessness. There are no brakes upon these carriages, 
but very powerful brakes are brought to bear upon the train from 
the engines and from the guard's van in the rear. So the occupants 
were not subjected to those sudden jerks when stopping with which 
the most of us travelers are familiar. 

COACHES OF EASE AND COMFORT. 

The station-master, Mr. Cowie, gave me an illustration of how 
smoothly and noiselessly they run. The carriages are usually kept 
at Aboyne, about twelve miles distant, during the Queen's stay at 
Balmoral, and are taken out for " runs " for a week or so preceding 
the time appointed for her departure. One summer they were kept 
at Ballater, and Mr. Cowie went on one of these " runs." He was 
busy in the saloon, with the blinds down, and had told the men to 
start when they liked. He felt a slight motion, and supposed they 
were simply shunting preparatory to starting, when upon lifting a 
blind he found he was half way to Aboyne. 

Anyone who has ridden in an ordinary compartment near the 
rear of an English express, and experienced its jerks and flings as 
though he were at the end of a huge whip snapped by a Brobding- 
naggian, will pray that the time may come when this creaminess 
of motion may spread over the whole railway system. 

The train as it stood the day of the Queen's departure, to 
which I refer, had next the engine and guard's van two saloon cars, 
occupied by a sheriff, directors, and numerous officials representing 



376 COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY. 

the railway systems over which the train was to pass. These were 
followed by the saloon for the Queen's Indian secretary, Munshi 
Abdul Karim, and Indian attendants. Next came that devoted to 
the use of Sir Henry Ponsonby, her private secretary, Dr. Reid, 
her physician, and other gentlemen. Then the Queen's carriages, 
followed by that of the children of Prince and Princess Henry of 
Battenberg and attendants. The eighth saloon was for the ladies-in- 
waiting ; the ninth for the dressers and ladies' maid ; tenth^ for 
upper servants and pages ; eleventh and last for men servants. 

POLISHED AND DUSTED. 

Everything was spick-and-span, the dusting of panels and 
polishing of windows being kept up till the very last minute ; a 
handsome train, illustrative of the triumph of the nineteenth cen- 
tury over those dark ages when the few folk who ventured to travel 
entered upon their journey in great fear and discomfort, the Church 
putting up prayers for their safety, as the English litany bears 
witness to-day. 

The Queen had a waiting room at Ballater. It was fitted up 
and finished on a day when she was expected. In fact, figuratively 
speaking, the last blow of the hammer may be said to have mingled 
with the sound of her approaching train. The officials and work- 
men awaited anxiously her verdict. 

" Charming !" was her exclamation as she entered. The walls 
are paneled in satin-wood, polished but not varnished, alternating 
with dark wood. The softly-toned ceiling is of thick paper, which 
gives the effect of stucco, with a white and gilt cornice. There are 
two pretty windows of stained glass, with the rose, thistle and 
shamrock, and in the centre the monogram V.R.I. The double 
English rose and the Scotch thistle are also prominent in the ceil- 
ing. Plate mirrors are let into the walls above the fireplace and at 
the opposite end ; there is a thick Persian rug and the furniture is 
Queen Anne in dark red morocco. 

The walls of the lavatory are particularly fine, being made of 
Scotch fir, a handsome wood, and worked in the old linen pattern. 
Sevetal smoking rooms in English houses have since been finished 



COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY. 377 

in this wood and pattern, the owners having seen and admired 
these walls when gnests of the Queen at Balmoral. Every appoint- 
ment for the toilet is kept here, even to the toilet vinegar. 

Tea was sometimes served in this waiting room for members 
of the royal family coming in on the train. It is a tasteful, cosy, 
homelike room, and when lighted up by a blazing fire of soft coal 
in its tiled grate it is ''charming!" as the Queen said. 

As early as nine on the day the Queen left Balmoral — her 
Sj-ecial train being scheduled for 2.25 p. m. — every variety of 
machine was on the way to the Castle for the conveyance of lug- 
gage, for although there are plenty of horses in the Balmoral 
stables for ordinary uses, they are insufficient for the moving of 
the household. 

During the forenoon all the saddle and carriage horses were 
brought down together w^ith the ponies and children's donkeys, the 
latter round, fat little beasts, light, gray and white. The day 
before all the dogs had been sent to Windsor in company with the 
pipers : the pipes ignominiously swathed in bags and the little 
golden brown "Marco" and a fat fox terrier named "Spot" in a 
comfortable dog box. The whole morning brakes and lorries con- 
tinued to arrive, and two of the Queen's tall footmen in scarlet 
coats were busy at the station sorting the luggage they brought. 

AWAITING THE ARRIVAL. 

By two o'clock people began to gather in the station square in 
expectation of the arrival of the Queen. Carriage after carriage 
from Balmoral drove up all open, although it was a cold day and 
'he wind swept freshly down the valley. But the Queen always 
'rives with her carriage open, unless it storms, and, of course, the 
Court follows her example. 

Sir Henry Ponsonby and Dr. Reid in one. Sir Henry, a tall 
slight man, with gray hair and beard, and wearing a long light 
cloak ; ladies in waiting and maids of honor in another ; the two 
wardrobe maids in a carriage by themselves. The Indian secre- 
tary, Munshi Abdul Karim, arrived in state, alone in his carriage, 
wearing a ligbt bluish-gray turban, and apparently concentrating 



378 COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY. 

in hirnself tlie dignity of tlie whole Indian empire. He looked 
neither to the right nor to the left, bnt descending with unbending 
solemnity, stalked majestically over the red carpet and disappeared 
into his own saloon. 

Not so the little white-turbaned Indian upon the box. He had 
no sense of dignity to disturb him, and skipped down from his 
perch with the celerity of a monkey, picked up his master's traps 
and trotted after him, also disappearing into the saloon, but reap- 
pearing shortly at a window, out of which he hung in intense 
enjoyment of the bustle. 

WOMAN V/ITH A GOOD MEMORY. 

My own place of observation was a window in the Albert 
Memorial Hall, looking directly down upon the little square and 
close to the entrance of the station. I heard a voice behind me 
say : " I remember the first time the Queen came to Balmoral." 

I turned quickly and asked : ' ' Do you remember when she and 
Prince Albert drove from Aberdeen to Balmoral with triumphal 
arches all the way ? I have been wanting to see somebody that 
remembered that." 

''Yes," she said, for it was a woman's voice. " I remember it 
all perfectly. I was eight years old, and I wore a white frock, and 
all we children sang ' God Save the Queen' as she drove by. I 
remember how disappointed I was, for I thought she would wear a 
crown and ride in a gilt coach. She wore a white bonnet trimmed 
with a blue ribbon, the royal blue, and a blue veil, and a shawl of 
Royal Stuart plaid folded in a point." 

So said the voice, and it gave a picturesque touch to the hour 
and scene. That was in 1848, and quite unlike the happy-hearted 
wife of that time was the woman we were about to see. 

Other scraps of the Ballater folk talk caught my ear : " There 
she is !" " Oh, no, that isn't she yet !" "She'll not be before her 
time !" " She's in no hurry to get away from Balmoral !" " Aye, 
aye ! she'll be sorry to go !" In the meantime the Guard of Honor 
had arrived and taken their stand. 

From our position we could see the Balmoral road where it 



COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY. 37y 

winds around Craigendarrocli, and the carriage at first taken for 
the Queen's proved to be that conveying the baby of the house- 
hold, little Prince Donald, a fine large carriage drawn by four 
horses, with postillions in scarlet jackets, and two footmen in the 
rumble. This carriage was closed, baby here as elsewhere being a 
law unto himself. He was lifted out, a soft white bundle, in his 
nurse's arms, and with another child toddling by her side, they 
also disappeared under the arched entrance. 

Soon after, two more white-turbaned Indian attendants drove 
up in a brougham, and one of them, clad in a light blue gown, with 
white trousers and white sash, took his stand by the entrance. 
Then we knew that Her Majesty could not be far behind. 

FIRST TO ENTER AND LEAVE THE CASTLE. 

For, as she was always the first to arrive at the Castle, so was 
she the last to leave. When she came in May and August, a 
brougham was always in waiting at the station, into which two of 
the attendants instantly sprang and drove with all speed to the 
Castle to be in attendance when Her Majesty arrived. And she 
was the first to enter the CasJe. When she left everybody was 
sent off, these two attendants alone waiting to see her into her 
carriage. Then they departed and she was the last to drive away. 
A man was stationed by the flagstaff on the hall, and as soon as 
the carriage with its outrider was seen coming round Craigendar- 
roch the Royal Standard was run up. 

The carriage slowed as it entered the square, and the Queen 
bowed as she passed. Her face wore a somewhat serious aspect, 
and there was an air of gravity about the people. With two or three 
exceptions they were all Ballater folk. They knew her well. 
Many years of coming and going made them familiar with her face. 
It was not curiosity that had brought them out. It was quite 
another feeling, and it seemed more like a family gathered to say 
" good-bye " and " God-speed " to its head than a Queen to her 
subjects. There was a touching homeliness about the scene. 

There were no cheers, no demonstration, as she did not wish 
it. Only once was that rule broken over, and that was in 1887, her 



380 COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY. 

Jubilee year. Then the scliool children were ranged beside the 
road ; the old men of eighty came from all down the valley and 
stood in one line, and all the people cheered to their hearts' content 
while the Queen walked her horses and bowed smiling and happy. 

As her carriage, with its four beautiful greys ridden by pos- 
tillions in black and white, drew up at the station, the salute was 
played. For a moment she sat quietly while every eye was fixed 
upon her ; a short woman, plainly dressed in black, very like her 
later photographs. 

For myself, as I looked at her, I lost sight of the Queen and 
Empress in the woman. I thought of the young girl awakened on 
that June morning in 1837, ^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ Queen of Great 
Britain, and who came with loosened hair and little slippered feet 
to ask the reverend prelate, who was one of the messengers, to pray 
for her. 

What a life lay between that hour and this ! How rich in all 
that consecrates life and makes for character ! She has touch»;d 
the heights af human happiness, and has sounded the depths of 
human sorrow. " God bless her ! '' I heard a voice say behind me. 

HER MAJESTY'S ATTENDANTS. 

The Princess Beatrice was seated beside her and her two old- 
est children sat with their backs to the horses. The mother and 
children stepped out ; and then Francie Clark, her personal High- 
land attendant, who had ridden in his place in the rumble, came 
forward, together with the blue-and-white robed Indian attendant, 
to assist the Queen to alight. She stood for a moment, walking- 
stick in hand, and then she, too, disappeared in the arched entrance. 

As the train moved noiselessly out we saw her at a window of 
her saloon, and the faces of the children, grave like those of every 
one else, looked out from the following carriage. As the train dis- 
appeared down the valley, the Royal Standard dropped. 

The Queen's was not a fast train. Thirty-five miles an hour 
was its maximum. It used to be preceded by a pilot engine ; but 
of late years a new system was adopted. There were ordinarily 
three men at work on the line in every one and a half miles, 



COMINGS AND GOINGS OF ROYALTY. 381 

These were turned for the time into signalmen, and wherever 
necessary additional men were placed. Bach one was supplied 
with a white and a red flag. They were so stationed that, together, 
they commanded the line, and as the train approached each showed 
his white flag if all was clear ; should there be any obstruction he 
showed the red. When night came on lanterns were substituted 
for flags, the white light for safety, the red for danger. So that 
really every foot of the line from Balmoral, or rather Ballater, to 
Windsor was under supervision as the royal train moved on. 

About three hours after the special the train left conveying 
the horses, donkeys, ponies and carriages — eight horse trucks, 
with three boxes in each and a compartment for the man in charge, 
and four carriage trucks. The horses were blanketed and guarded 
as to their legs, the donkeys remonstrating after their fashion to 
the embarkation. There was a carriage for the hostlers and addi- 
tional servants, and all were under the charge of the head coach- 
man. Sands, a typical English coachman of extensive breadth, who 
might have stepped out from among his jolly compeers in " Pick- 
wick." 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Funeral of Queen Victoria. 

WITH grand, yet mournful, display of naval pomp and power, 
tlie body of Queen Victoria was borne on the afternoon of 
February ist from its quiet resting place in Osborne House to Ports- 
moutb, the heart of England's navy. Not since Admiral Cervera's 
ships lit up the Cuban coast with their self-consuming fires had 
anything been seen which, in tragic splendor, approached the 
naval spectacle of this day. 

The half hundred fighting ships that fired their broadsides 
and minute guns were inferior in strength to the force gathered 
in the same waters for the jubilee celebration, but the lack of for- 
midableness was fully atoned for by the solemnity of this fleet in 
mourning. 

Over the still waters, between the roll of the six pounders, 
came strains of Chopin's and Beethoven's funeral marches. The 
crews, accustomed to cheer with the heartiness which belongs 
only to "jackies" stood silently along the decks, and the flags 
which usually float defiantly in the breeze, drooped half-way down 
the halyards. Evidences of profound mourning were displayed 
on every side ; the nation was in grief. 

The most powerful fleet England could gather on short 
notice lay inert and silent, save for the mournful strains of the 
bands and woeful sound of guns that betokened neither peace nor 
war, but death. Past these and past the Hohenzollern, the huge, 
though cumbersome, Camperdown, the Rodney and the Benbow, 
on through the line of British battleships, all as powerful as the 
Oregon or Kentucky ; still on, till Japan's Hatsuse, the biggest 
warship in the world, was left astern, and the German Baden was 
beam to beam with Vice Admiral Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson's 
splendid flagship, the Majestic, of the Channel Squadron, the naval 

funeral procession slowly steamed. Ahead were eight destroyers ; 

382 



FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 383 

and sel dom liave these speedy craft drawn their long black hulls 
so slug:gishly through the water. 

Paddling leisurely after them was the royal yacht Alberta, 
half screened by the awning on the poop, the royal coffin placed 
on a crimson dais, the curtains of which were drawn back and 
tied to four poles, leaving free to view the magnificent casket and 
'robes. 

Sometimes abeam, sometimes ahead, was the Trinity House 
, yacht Irene, watching the course, while in the wake of the coffin 
came the royal yacht Victoria and Albert, with King Edward 
and Queen Alexandra and the English royal family ; the royal 
yacht Osborne, with other royal personages ; the imperial yacht 
Hohenzollern, with Emperor William, the Duke and Duchess of 
Connaught and others ; the Admiralty yacht Enchantress, and a 
Trinity House yacht with officials on board. 

BOOMING OF MINUTE GUNS. 

Minute guns were fired by all ships in the Solent and at 
Cowes, commencing when the Alberta left the pier. Each ship 
ceased firing immediately after the tail of the procession had 
passed her. After the procession had passed the Majestic the 
forts and ships in Portsmouth harbor commenced firing minute 
guns, and continued firing until the Alberta was alongside the 
wharf. No standards were displayed, and ensigns and Union 
Jacks were at half mast. The bands played the funeral marches 
of Chopin and Beethoven only. No national anthem was played. 

On the approach of the procession the ships were manned 
and the guards and bands were paraded. The officers were in 
full dress, and the men wore "No. i rig" and straw hats. The 
guards presented arms as the Alberta passed each ship, and then 
rested on their arms reversed until the procession had passed. 
A detachment of marines and the Admiral's band was on board 
Nelson's old flagship, the Victory, in Portsmouth harbor. 

All the sea front and dockyards were manned by marines 
and sailors, while Barrow Island was manned by boys from the 
training ship St. Vincent and men from the gunnery ship Excel- 



384 FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 

lent. When tlie Majestic was left astern, the Alberta was moored 
for the night. The bod}^ will be taken ashore at Portsmouth, and 
thence conveyed to London and Windsor for the last tributes. 

The spectacle of the two great monarch s, followed by the 
women of their families and the noblest princes of Europe, walk- 
ing silently along the country road behind the bier blazing with 
precious stones will live long in the memory of those who saw it. 
The veneration and the love which the action implied were accen- 
tuated by the splendor of the uniforms of these kings and princes, 
and the magnificence of the military display which preceded 
them, a dazzling mass of color. The head of the procession 
emerged from the royal entrance to Osborne, the scarlet bands 
rousing the country echoes with the grand strains of the funeral 

marches. 

GIRL QUEEN'S CORONATION ROBE. 

The land ceremony, consisting in bringing the coffin from 
Osborne House to the pier at Cowes, was scarcely less interest- 
ing than the naval function. At noon the gorgeous trappings of 
the chapelle Ardente were disturbed. Over the coffin was thrown 
the coronation robe worn by the girl Queen. On this was placed 
the royal regalia, wand, sceptre and crown, which were scarcely 
ever used by the Queen in her lifetime. Dummy regalia will be 
buried with her at Frogmore. 

Cowes was astir at dawn, and long before the hour for the 
funeral the hilly York avenue leading from Osborne was a pic- 
turesque sight. From the castle gate to the pier troops stood with 
elbows touching. Behind them were thousands of men, women 
and children. The road was lined with poles, with shields of 
black and silver upon them bearing the royal monogram or sur- 
rounded with flags. Stands for spectators dotted the route. 
Innumerable cameras were posted at advantageous spots. Hawk- 
ers were busy disposing of black borderedin memoriam cards and 
other souvenirs. Equerries, aides-de-camp, mounted grooms and 
messengers dashed hither and thither, seeing that everything was 
in readiness. 

The guard around Osborne House was most rigid, and, 



-FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 385 

besides tiie police, a long, thin line of red merged into tlie green 

and brown woods, clnstering around the royal residence. The 

Queen's Guard was drawn up in double rank before the Queen's 

entrance, with heads bowed over their reversed guns, as in the 

death chamber. At 1.30 P. M. the bars of the main door of 

Osborne House opened and the petty officers of the royal yacht 

Victoria and Albert then doifed their hats and entered. King 

Edward came from a side entrance, accompanied by Emperor 

William of Germany. They both wore Admiral's uniforms. 

The Grenadiers momentarily raised their heads and came to 

the salute, which the King returned, and the men again became 

mute figures. Then, through the glass doors could be seen the 

coffin carried by the sailors, who but a few moments previous had 

entered. It was preceded by pipers, and was covered with the 

royal robes and regalia, and accompanied on either side by 

equerries. 

T\VO FAMOUS MONARCHS. 

Immediately behind the King took his place, on his right the 
Emperor of Germany. The King's head was bowed. The Emperor 
was erect, his face expressionless. Then followed the royal 
princes. A few seconds later emerged Queen Alexandra and 
eight royal princesses, all afoot and dressed in the simplest black, 
their faces entirely veiled with crape. Several of the party, and 
especially Princess Beatrice, were sobbing bitterly. 

In striking contrast with the black robed women followed 
the heads of the royal household in gorgeous uniforms. The 
coffin was placed upon the gun carriage. The pipers commenced 
their dirge. 

At 1.45 P. M. sailors from the Victoria and Albert raised the 
precious burden, and bore it from the house. This duty was to 
have fallen to the Highlanders, but at the rehearsal they were so 
awkward that it was decided that the sailors should perform the 
task. Outside the royal residence Grenadier Guards were drawn 
up on a brilliant line. With a sharp click they presented arms, 
for the last time, in honor of their dead Queen. The pipers led 
the procession, making the woods ring with a weird refrain. 

25 



^8() FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 

Behind them came the roj'-al family. At the gate the military 
portion of the parade stood ready, a glittering medley of uniforms. 

The two points of the land ceremony that seemed to specially 
rivet attention were the gems of the regalia and the veiled Queen 
and princesses. The emblems of sovereignity on top of the cofhn 
riveted all eyes. The jewels in the golden crown glittered with 
dazzling brilliancy in the sunlight. 

The evident fatigue of Queen Alexandra and the princesses 
appealed to all. "To think," said one, "that those poor, dear 
things, so pale and fine, trudged all down that weary road." And 
an old inhabitant, when the troops came to the " reverse " for the 
last night and the "Alberta" began to move off, muttered, "She 
has been here many a time, but this is the last." 

GROOMS IN BRIGHT SCARLET. 

The mounted grooms who headed the line wore bright scarlet. 
With the massed bands there were no fewer than forty muffled 
drums in the line. Among the Highlanders were seven Queen 
foresters in royal Stuart tartan, following whom two pipers wailed 
the sad music of the Black Watch's dirge. 

The King, Bmperor William and the Duke of Connaught 
walked three abreast, followed by the princes. They stepped 
slowly, a sad looking group, in spite of the brilliancy of their 
uniforms. But for a spectacle supremely touching, nothing 
could equal the band of mourners surrounding Queen Alexandra, 
the ladies, clothed in the deepest black, walking three by three 
along the shrub lined avenue and into the public road, like the 
merest peasants at the funeral of a relative. 

The pipers had followed the first dirge by the touching 
lament, "The Flowers of the Forest," which represents the with- 
ering of the last and best of them. As they reached the Queen's 
gate and wailed their closing strain, the muffled drums rolled out 
vvith oft recurring rhj^thmic beats, and the massed bands burst 
forth into the magnificent music of Chopin's Funeral March. 
Off went every hat, every woman curtsied low, the troops reversed 
arms and leaned their bended heads over them, still as statues. 



FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 387 

Down hill weut tlie sad procession, tlirongli tlie still and 
silent ranks of the people. No sound but that of the mournful 
march could be heard, but that was echoed far away to the specta- 
tors of the neighboring hills and to the ships far out to sea. 

The mourning procession neared the pier without incident. 
The sun sparkled on the royal gems, reflecting a thousand rays. 
The strains of Chopin's Funeral March, rising sweetly in the 
almost summer air, gave warning to the naval of&cers on the pier 
that the coffin was drawing near. The flag flying from the stafl" 
within the ivy covered court was hoisted to the masthead, the 
bands ceased, and there was no sound heard save the splash by 
the boatmen who clustered near the dock. The surrounding 
quays were black with expectant thousands. Through the court 
archway came the few staff officers, then the Highlanders, their 
pipes silent and all heads bared. 

BRONZED TARS STAND READY. 

Bight bronzed and bearded tars were drawn up waiting to 
receive their burden. Then came the Grenadiers, resplendent in 
their busbies and scarlet, and quickly formed a circuit around 
the court. The artillery horses were restless from the long walk, 
and pranced under the gateway, drawing the gun carriage with 
the coffin. 

A second later the King and the Bmperor and their suites 
appeared. As the carriage stopped before the gangway of the 
Alberta, loud orders rang out, a sharp movement ran through the 
line of Grenadiers, their arms were instantly reversed, and, with 
equal precision, came the hands of the Bmperor, King and the 
Duke of Connaught in stately salute. The King was tired from 
the walk. The equerries relieved the regalia, the royalties still 
standing at the salute, while behind them the princesses bowed 
their heads, visibly fatigued. 

The light oak of the coffin shone out. As the sailors grasped 
the handles, the young Crown Prince of Germany could scarcely 
keep his hand at the salute for emotion. With perfect precision 
the coffin was lifted ofl" the gun carriage on board the yacht. Once 



{-J8S FUNERAL OF QUEEN "VICTORIA. 

more tlie Grenadiers came to the "present" as the King, fol- 
lowed by his relatives, stepped down the gangway, and the regalia 
and robes were replaced on the coffin. 

The King then boarded a steam launch and went off to the 
royal yacht Victoria and Albert. Shortly afterwards the other 
royalties boarded the yachts, and the Alberta with her solemn 
burden moved away from the pier and passed the ships which lay 
waiting in the sunlit Solent. 

A few minutes after the Alberta left, minute guns began to 

be fired, and before the Camperdown was passed the Solent 

echoed and re-echoed with reports, while clouds of smoke curled 

slowly in the sides of the warships, for there was scarcely a puff 

of wind. 

IMMENSE FLEET OF VESSELS. 

The fishing smacks, tugs, steamers a.nd rowboats emerged 
from the mouth of the Medina river to get a view of the Alberta. 
After she had rounded the headland and turned towards Ports- 
mouth, the yacht proceeded at a higher speed than expected, 
threading her way swiftly, preceded by the torpedo boats and 
accompanied by the Irene. No better conditions of weather and 
water could have been wished for such a spectacle. Thousands 
of spectators, who lined the docks and shores of the Isle of Wight, 
making a mourning edge, could clearly see every detail. 

On reaching Trinity pier, the same petty officers carried the 
coffin through the escort, to the roll of muffled drums, and placed 
it reverently in the pavilion of the Alberta. A few moments 
later the torpedo fleet was in motion and slowly left the Medina 
for the Solent. The massed bands played Beethoven's funeral 
march. As the Alberta passed abeam of the Alexandria, the 
great vessel fired the first gun of the salute, which was taken up 
by the Rodney and other warships. 

From the island to the mainland all the ships were manned, 
and from the bands floated the sad strains of funeral marches. 
The crimson velvet covered dais of the Alberta was so placed that 
the body rested athwartship, a few feet forward of the yellow 
funnel, and flanked by two pedestals, on which were anchors 




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FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 3«9 

formed of tlie choicest flowers from the officers of the four naval 
commands, Portsmonth, Devonport, the Nore and the Channel 
Squadron, "as a slight token of loving devotion to their late 
Queen." 

Not since the Diamond Jubilee had the town of Portsmouth 
held such a crowd as poured in to witness the funeral. The bas- 
tions and promontories overlooking the sea and harbor and every 
point of vantage were black with spectators. Conspicuous in 
the spacious harbor was the old battleship Victory, on the old 
fashioned poop of which a guard of royal marines was mounted, 
and where the Admiral's Band played funeral marches. Thou- 
sands of visitors spent the morning on yachts and tugs, to get a 
closer glimpse of the great line of warships w^hich stretched from 
opposite South Sea. 

A SCENE OF MOURNING. 

Spithead wore an air of sadness, which the calm of the 
beautiful morning failed to dispel. The great fleet seemed life- 
less. Scarcely a small boat was afloat, and, except for the white 
ensigns, which hung listlessly half-mast, and the occasional 
flutter of signal bunting from the flagship, there was no glimpse 
of color. 

The big bell of the Town Hall commenced ringing a funeral 
knell on the arrival of the Alberta, and continued to toll for two 
hours. The Majestic and German flagship were the last of the 
fleet to salute the cortege. The Alberta entered the harbor at 
4.40 P. M., and moored alongside the landing place. The royal 
yachts Victoria and Albert and the Osborne were secured to 
buoys in the harbors, while the imperial yacht Hohenzollern was 
berthed by the dockyard jetty. 

Special trains took down the members of the House of Lords 
and of the House of Commons, the diplomats and other officers 
' and the correspondents from Victoria Station to Portsmouth early 
this morning. The members of Parliament and correspondents 
representing every nation embarked on a small steamer, and were 
entertained at luncheon as guests of the Admiralty. 



390 FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 

The fleet stretched from Portsmouth to Cowes, the turrets of 
Osborne standing above the purple hills. There were nineteen 
British battleships, eleven cruisers and eight gunboats — not even 
the full strength of the Channel squadron. Bight naval ambas- 
sadors of friendly Powers were ranged along the Portsmouth end, 
while gunboats and steamers with official spectators formed the 
remainder of the southern line. 

The British ships were an imposing sight, with their uniform 
decorations — coal-black hulls, with a line of red just above the 
water, white upper work and yellow smokestacks. All displayed 
the jack at the foremast and the white ensign at half-mast at their 
sterns. The foreign ships attracted most of the attention of the 
Bnglish spectators. Giant of the whole fleet was the Japanese 
battleship Hatsuse, Ithe largest war machine afloat, a fortress 
of clay-colored steel, with the scarlet sun on a white field hanging 
at her stern, the fighting emblem of the youngest world Power. 

THE EMPEROR'S NAVY. 

Emperor William's navy was represented by Nymphe, Vic- 
toria Luise, Hagen and Baden, all blue-gray colored upper works. 
The Hagen was flying Prince Henry of Prussia's flag, yellow 
arms on a white field. The Dupuy de Lome, under France's 
tricolor, was a fine sight. She is built with a prow fronted long 
ram, high out of the water. Portugal was represented by the 
cruiser Don Carlos. The ill fortune of Spain's navy asserted 
itself at the last moment, for word came that the Emperador 
Carlos V. had turned back from her trip to the port with crippled 
engines. 

The pathway between the warships was a quarter of a mile 
avenue of clear water. Behind the lines of warships hovered a 
few yachts and Channel steamers. Black torpedo boats and 
torpedo boat destroyers were skimming about, and officers' gigs and 
launches swarmed everywhere. Bugle calls came over the waters, 
and gaudy signal flags burst out and disappeared. The British 
ships were also lighted with gleams of the scarlet coats of the 
marines. 



FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA. - 391. 

Throiigli tlie whole lengtli of tine ciiannel there was only a 
long, double file of warships, with black messenger boats dashing 
among them. For nearly three hours the fleet watched for the 
coming of the funeral. Shortly before 3 o'clock white smoke 
broke from the Majestic' s sides, and, a second later, a report 
cracked over the harbor and echoed to the hill, announcing the 
starting of the Alberta from Trinity Pier. From ship to ship the 
salute was passed down the line. Bach vessel of the fleet was 
firing minute guns. They all employed their shore side bat- 
teries, so that on the channel side were silhouettes of hulls, spars 
and iron work, before backgrounds of dense, gray smoke. The 
sound was that of a great battle. 

The funeral fleet was just well under way when it came 
abreast of the press boat. Eight torpedo boat destroyers crept 
ahead, moving in pairs, like silent pall-bearers marching before 
a hearse. They were the Portsmouth Squadron, of exactly the 
same size, every inch of hull and machinery painted a dull black, 
with an ofiicer standing like a statue on its bow, each of the crews 
aligned at ^' attention," like sentries, on their decks. 

A FLEET FOR ESCORT. 

Hardly a ripple came from their bows, their speed being 
barely five knots. The pairs of torpedo boat destroyers were 
about 100 yards apart, with four boats' lengths between stern and 
bows. Then, a quarter of a mile behind, but seeming across the 
water but a stone's throw, followed the royal yacht Alberta, a 
vessel on which the eyes of the world may be said to have been 
centered. She was a commonplace looking little vessel, lying low 
in the water, with a gilt trimmed hull and side wheels, protected 
by yellow paddle-boxes. At her stern stood a tall ofi&cer, uni- 
formed in dark blue alone, as motionless as part of the ship. The 
Union Jack was at the foremast, the royal standard fell from half 
way up the mainmast and the naval ensign trailed from her 
stern. The after deck of the yacht was roofed with a white awn- 
ing, and, beneath the awning, through glasses, could be seen the 
catafalque, of royal purple and ruby lines, on which rested the coffin, 



392 FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 

Four officers, in sombre uniforms, stood at tlie four corners of 
tlie catafalque, with tlieir faces turned towards the ships. A few 
other persons could be seen clustered on the Alberta's deck. As the 
funeral yacht moved slowly past, the decks of the warships were 
crowded with their crews. They were all manned to their full 
complement. The sailors, in blue, with straw hats, formed a 
solid mass along the decks of each ship, standing with their arms 
at " attention." 

A line of scarlet coats, topped by snowy, shining helmets, on 
the afterdecks, showed where the marines were stationed. The 
fighting tops and guns were also manned. The officers stood out 
in a showy, full dress array. The band of each ship took up 
the funeral march when the Alberta came abreast of her, and the 
spectators on all the other craft took off their hats. 

So, with all eyes focused on the tiny looking purple bier, the 
remains of Queen Victoria were carried by. Over all the miles of 
water there came no sound save the boom of cannon and the 
mournful notes of many bands. 

ROYAL YACHTS IN LINE. 

Following the Alberta trailed along five other yachts at regu- 
lar intervals. First was the Victoria and Albert, a royal yacht 
twice as large as the Alberta and of similar design. She carried 
the royal mourners ; also the relatives of officials followed the cof- 
fin. King Edward and Emperor William were chief am.ong them; 
but from the observation boats, they were the only group not 
recognizable. A few scarlet coats could be seen, with ladies in 
the deepest mourning, and on the upper decks the Queen's Indian 
attendants were distinguishable by their white turbans. 

In the wake of the Victoria and Albert, Emperor William's 
yacht Hohenzollern loomed up like an ocean greyhound, as large 
as a warship, painted a spotless white, with yellow funnels, trim, 
glittering, unfunereal, carrying the German flag at her bow and 
the naval ensign at half-mast at the stern. 

Three other yachts came in single file behind. The Osborne, 
larger than the Alberta and of the same class ; next came tjae 



FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 393 

admiralty yacht Encliantress, smaller, and then a little Trinity 
House yacht. Finally came another vessel, a black torpedo boat 
destroyer. But the Alberta, marked by the purple and opal on 
her deck, and the big Hohenzollern stood out conspicuous in the 
crawling fleet. 

Twenty minutes after the first pair of torpedo boat destroy- 
ers came abreast of the press boat, the historic parade had passed 
and was dwindling, smaller and smaller, toward the sunset, where 
the purple clouds and volumes of smoke made an overpoweringly 
impressive stage spectacle. The guns of each warship ceased 
firing when the Alberta had gone by, and the marines "reversed 
arms." But they and all the crews remained at their stations 
while the fleet steamers from the shores, their decks solid masses 
of black, crowded with thousands of the late Queen's subjects, 
raised their anchors and followed outside the line of warships. 

THUNDER OF MINUTE GUNS CEASES. 

Gradually the din of the minute guns lessened as the bat- 
teries of ship after ship ceased firing, while the funeral parade 
swept around the end of the line and into the entrance of of Ports- 
mouth harbor. It was 5 o'clock when the echoes of the last gun 
ceased. The sun was a great red globe sinking to the hill tops, 
the clouds began to fall again upon the channel, and the body of 
the Queen was safe in Portsmouth harbor. 

When the Alberta entered the harbor, with the minute guns 
in the forts sounding, the bells of all the churches of the city 
tolling, the ancient frigate Victory, moored there, fired a salute 
from muzzle loaders. The marines manning her stood at arms. 
The Admiral's band played a dirge. The King's yacht was made 
fast to a buoy in midstream, with the Hohenzollern lying near. 
The royal personages and their suites dined on board, and passed 
the night there. Steam launches with armed guards patrolled 
around both yachts all night. 

The crowd in Portsmouth was estimated at 100,000. Every 
town along the channel contributed its quota, and the railway 
pompanies were helpless in the evening before the rush of persons 



394 FUNERAL OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 

going home after the parade. Thousands crowded into the 
stations and fought their way into the trains. Foreign officers, 
diplomatists, and members of Parliament mixed in the rush and 
took their chances with the mob. The cars going toward London 
were packed to suffocation by all classes of Ipeople. 

From Victoria Station to Paddington Station the streets of 
London were draped in purple, black, and white. In St. James 
street was a perfect blaze of purple of all shades. Piccadilly was 
gorgeous. Some of the clubs were entirely veiled with purple 
cloth, relieved by white bows and rosettes. 

The lamp posts in the middle of the road along the route were 
removed, and the streets were sanded preparatory to the function. 
Not until late in the evening did the Earl Marshal, the Duke of 
Norfolk, give the finishing touches to the official programme, the 
exacting and difficult qiiestion of precedence among the multitude 
of British and visiting royalties having been finally settled and 
the number of horses their carriages should be drawn bj^, as well 
as the question of who should drive and who should ride having 
been determined. 

MOST BRILLIANT EVER ^A^ITNESSED. 

The cavalcade which followed the coffin, with King Edward 
in the centre, flanked by Bmperor William and the Duke of Con- 
naught, exceeded in brilliancy anything ever seen in England. 
There were nearly fifty kings and princes, each wearing the 
uniform of his own country. 

The War and Navy Departments as Washington issued 
instructions to the army and naval officers, who, by detail or 
invitation, were to attend the religious service in memory of 
Queen Victoria at St. John's Church on February 2d, to wear 
special full dress, with the crepe badge of mourning on the sword 
hilt. Following the example set by the President in the case of 
the White House, all of the Cabinet officers ordered the United 
States flag to be placed at half-staff all day. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Britain's Queen Laid to Rest with Imposing Ceremonies 

\ A yiTH every circumstance of splendid pomp befitting the" 
" ' obsequies of so migbty and well-beloved a monarch, all 
that was mortal of Queen Victoria was borne through the streets 
of the capital to the ancient fortress-palace of the sovereigns of 
England. The solemn magnificence of the opening phase of 
these last rites on the preceding day was fully maintained. 

Perhaps the stately grandeur of the sorroM^ful pageant 
through the swarming streets of London, with hundreds of 
thousands of mourners forming a black border to the route, will 
never be surpassed. There was in Victoria's funeral procession 
an absence of that black ceremonial generally connected with the 
final progress to the grave. 

The coffin was drawn by cream-colored horses. The pall was 
white, and the uniforms of the troops and the gold trappings of 
the foreign sovereigns, Princes and representatives, forming a 
glittering medley, gave brilliant coloring to the scene. The chief 
mourner himself, with his Field Marshal's uniform, even though 
this was partially hidden by his overcoat, surrounded by his corps, 
helped to leaven the symbols of mourning making the route. 

Never in English history has a sovereign been borne to the 
grave attended by so many distinguished mourners. The gather- 
ing of crowned heads surpassed those v/horode in the jubilee pro- 
cession. All the great officers of state participated. The display 
of the naval and military forces reached the great total of 35,000 
men. 

The scene at Victoria Station, from early morning, was most 
brilliant and impressive. For the ceremony the station was trans- 
formed into an immense reception hall. All the trains were stop- ' 
ped before 9 A. M., and the long platforms were covered with 
purple cloth. On another platform, facing that at which the 

395 



396 BRITAIN'S QUEEN LAID TO REST. 

Queen's train was to arrive, guards of honor, composed of blue 
jackets and grenadier guards, were drawn up. The broad road- 
way separating the two was swept clean and sanded, and a num- 
ber of little purple colored platforms, from which members of the 
Royal family were expected to mount their horses, were placed at 
intervals at the side and centre. 

At lo o'clock an army of grooms, with horses, arrived, and 
thenceforward distinguished British naval and military officers 
and foreign royalties, in dazzling uniforms, came in quick succes- 
sion. The Lord Chamberlain and his officials, bareheaded, with 
their white wands of office, received the most distinguished per- 
sonages and conducted them to a little pavilion erected on the 
platform. The whole station by that time resembled the scene at 

a levee. 

THE RENOWNED FIELD MARSHAL. 

The Commander-in-Chief of the forces. Field Marshal Karl 
Roberts, on a beautiful spirited brown mare, carrying his field 
marshal's baton, at this juncture trotted into the station and 
became the centre of interest. He was soon followed by the Earl 
Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, and many of the most distin- 
guished British officers. Then came the carriages for the Queen 
and the Princesses. They were the state carriages used on the 
occasion of the late Queen's jubilee, with beautiful gold-mounted 
harnesses and trappings. The horses were ridden by postillions 
in scarlet jackets, with only a narrowband of crepe on their arms, 
as mark of the great change. The carriages w^ere closed. 

Following the carriages and preceded by an officer came an 
object at which every officer in the animated throng instinctively 
came to the salute, and every head was bared. It was the little 
Khaki-colored gun carriage, which was to carry Queen Victoria's 
body from Victoria to Paddington station. The eight Hanoverian 
cream-colored horses, which also drew the late Queen on the 
occasion of the Jubilee, were used to-day. 

The gold harnesses, scarlet-coated postillions, and scarlet 
and gold-covered grooms, who held each of the horses by the 
bridle, were all the same. Only, the little gun carriage, instead 




MFMORIAL SERVICE IN ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, WINDSOR 




CHIEF MOURNERS IN THE FUNERAL MARCH THROUGH LONDON 

KING EDWARD, CHIEF MOURNER, MOUNTED ON A DARK BAY CHARGER. ON THE KING'S 
RIGHT THE GERMAN EMPEROR. ON HIS LEFT THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT 




KING EDWARD'S FIRST OFFICIAL ACT AFTER HE WAS 
PROCLAIMED KING 




THE EARTHLY CF^OWN PASSES: THE HEAVENLY CROWN ENDURES 



BRITAIN'S QUEEN LAID TO REST. 89? 

of the glittering glass-and-gold coach, marked tlie change. With 
the exception that rubber tires were on the wheels, the gun car- 
riage was as if in actual use. The place for the coffin to rest was 
over the gun. 

It was then nearly ii o'clock, when, amid cries of "The 
King of Portugal's horse," the "Grand Duke of Hesse's horse, I 
etc., as the Princes mounted, the train steamed into the station a\ 
minute ahead of the time. 

All heads were uncovered as the saloon carriage bearing the 
Queen's body stopped exactly opposite the gun carriage, and 
King Edward, Queen Alexandra, Emperor William and others 
alighted. Then the bearer party advanced to the saloon carriage, 
and, with his hand at the salute and standing a little in advance 
of the others, King Edward watched the painfully slow removal 
of the coffin to the gun carriage. It was finally accomplished, 
and the pall and the regalia of the British crown were placed on 
the coffin. The King and the others with him then mounted and 
the procession started. 

UNPARALLELED MARTIAL ARRAY. 

The gray dawn of a London morning with the sky draped 
with fleecy clouds, proclaimed ideal conditions for the funeral day 
of England's Queen. Such a martial array has not been seen in 
London for years, and it is equally true that a day of greater 
sadness has never been known in England. Accompanied by the 
marching troopers, King Edward, Emperor William and the Duke 
of Connaught at their head, the body of Victoria was escorted 
through London from Victoria Station to Paddington, where it was 
taken by train to Windsor. There the Queen, at 2.30 in the after- 
noon, was interred at Frogmore beside her beloved Prince Albert. 

The calm serenity of the atmosphere was reflected by the 
crowds which at daylight began to assemble at every point of 
vantage along the route of the Royal obsequies. So soft, peaceful 
and noiseless was the progress of the ingathering hosts that the 
constantly swelling throngs and the rhythmic tread of the 
assembling troops seemed to accentuate the solemn stillness. 



898 BRITAIN'S QUEEN LAID TO REST. 

The earl}- scenes were unlike tliose of many spectacular days 
wliicli London witnessed in the past year. The crowds which so 
early gathered in the streets evinced an entire lack of feverish 
unrest and excitement. The great masses of police which assem- 
bled, phantom-like, in the grayness of the morning seemed more 
apologetically to tiptoe their allotted stations, as though their 
presence reflected on the solemnity dominating everything. Never 
did a concourse of people so little need either civil or military 
guidance. No man standing b}^ his mother's bier ever needed 
admonition less than did these hundreds of thousands of men and 
women, gathered from all parts of the kingdom on the funeral 
of their mother, the Queen. 

In the great green spaces of Hyde Park, St. James's, and 
others, these long black lines stood silhouetted against the morn- 
ing sky, solemn, silent, and picturesque, staunchly stemming 
the onrush of that endless flood of people pouring in from every 
street and avenue. Purple was the tone of the royal mourning, 
and this seemed almost a relief, contrasted with these silent 
masses of black-garbed crowds. It was the true note, after all, of 
the day's ceremonial. 

EVIDENCES OF NATIONAL GRIEF. 

The troops began to move less early than on Proclamation 
Day. That was the day of the official pronouncement of the 
authority of the King, and the streets were closed as if by magic 
and with a tone of authority that did not mark this morning's 
scenes. 

Buckingham Palace, the great hotels about the Victoria Sta- 
tion, the princely homes in Park Lane, and every shop and house 
thence to Paddington bore ample evidence of the national grief, 
and together with purple and white festoons, wreaths of bay and 
laurel were hanging from every lamppost, while flags at half- 
mast, bordered with crepe, told in a dignified, simple manner the 
story of the nation's loss. 

The firing of minute guns and the tolling of bells at a 
quarter past ii announced to the countless multitudes who had 



BRITAIN'S OUEKN LAID TO REST. 3^9 

been crowding London's mudd}^ streets since dayliglit tliat tlie 
funeral procession with the bod}- of Queen Victoria had begun 
its passage through the capital 

The people fought for hours for a glimpse of the cofi&n and 
the Kings and others following it. They saw a long procession 
of soldiers, a passing show of dazzling regalia, with a hundred 
royalties crowding after, and then dispersed, while all the church 
chimes of the city were ringing and muffled dirges played. 

The procession, apart from the gun carriage bearing the 
cofiin and the Royal Family and official mourners about it, was 
not noteworthy. Parliament, the judiciary, and the commercial 
bodies were not represented. Royalty, the army and navy 
monopolized the pageant. Three thousand soldiers and sailors, 
picked companies representing all branches of the service — 
cavalry, artillery, infantr^^, yeomanry, militia, volunteers and 
colonials — formed the advanced escort. They marched slowly 
and without music. Most of the uniforms were covered with 
dark overcoats, and the standards were draped with black, the 
officers wearing bands of crepe on their sleeves. 

BANDS PLAYING FUNERAL MARCHES. 

The infantry marched in columns of four, with rifles reversed. 
They were half an hour in passing. Then came Field Marshal 
Barl Roberts and his staff, and after them four massed bauds 
pla3ang funeral marches. Three hundred miisicians announced 
the coming of the bod}^ of the Queen. 

There was a long array of Court officials, under the leader- 
ship of the Duke of Norfolk (the Karl Marshal), all attired 
quaintly and brilliantly, beariug maces or wands, most of them 
elderly men who for years had served the Royal lady for whom 
they were performing the last oifices. 

Most of the spectators expected an imposing catafalque, and 
the coflin was almost past before they recognized its presence by 
removing their hats. It was a pathetically small oblong block 
concealed beneath a rich pall of white satin, on the corners of 
which gleamed the Royal arms. Across the pall the Royal 



400 BRITAIN'S QUEEN LAID TO REST. 

standard was draped, and a large crown of gold, encrusted witli 
jewels, rested at tlie liead of tlie cof&n, whicli was at the end of 
the gun carriage, just over the gun. On the foot of the cof&n 
were two smaller crowns with a gold jewelled sceptre lying between 
them. The eight horses which drew the gun carriage were aim or t 
concealed beneath their rich harness. A large bow of purple was 
attached to the coffin. This was the only symbol of mourning. 

Around the coffin walked the stalwart bearers, non-commis- 
sioned officers of the Guards and Household Cavalry, and on 
either side were the Queen's equerries, Lords-in-waiting, and 
physicians. All the uniforms were covered with long dark 
cloaks. 

A GREAT MULTITUDE OF SPECTATORS. 

The Queen's body arrived at Windsor at 2. jO P. M. The 
morning opened gloomy, with a heavy rain falling, but later 
brightened. Thousands upon thousands flocked to town by every 
railroad route. A bewildering number of wreaths continued to 
arrive from all over the world. These were so numerous that the 
authorities were quite at a loss to know how to deal with 
them. It soon became necessary to exclude the public from the 
cloisters, which were overflowing. 

In St. George's Chapel Royal the purple covered bier stood 
awaiting its royal burden. Four shields adorned its sides, each with 
a golden monogram, " V. R. I." At Frogmore the cover of the 
great stone sarcophagus was rolled away. When the Queen's 
remains were laid beside those of the Prince Consort, the stone 
was replaced and finally sealed, a marble figure being placed 
above it. The service at St. George's Chapel was concluded at 
4.10 P. M. The body lay until Monday, February 4th, in the 
Albert Memorial Chapel. 

No funeral pomp known to history was comparable in 
impressive solemnity with the passing of the Queen's mortuary 
procession between the double lines of battleships extending 
across the Solent from Cowes to Portsmouth. The ceremonies 
attending the interment which marked the last official testimonies 



BRITAIN'S QUEEN LAID TO REST. 401 

of respect to the memory of the departed sovereign were, in 
another way, equally imposing. The pageantr}^ was arranged on 
a scale of imperial magnificence proper to the expression of 
mourning by the great nation unquestionably devoted with royal 
affection to Queen Victoria ; but, withal, the occasion was marked 
throughout with simplicity, good taste, and propriety. 

Her Majesty's mortal remains were placed, in accordance 
with her own long entertained design, in the tomb beside her 
beloved husband, and the sentiments sincerely felt by her people 
are reflected in the inscription she caused to be placed over the 
entrance to this last home on earth : " Here at last will I rest 
with thee ; with thee in Christ will I rise again." 

MAUSOLEUM AT FROGMORE. 

Frogmore, where the remains of Queen Victoria are to rest, 
lies in Windsor Great Park, about three-quarters of a mile south- 
east of the Castle, and a short distance to the east of the famous 
Long Walk. The mausoleum erected by the Queen for the rest- 
ing place of the Prince Consort stands in the grounds of Frog- 
more House, which is technically a part of Windsor Castle. The 
grounds are beautiful, being richly wooded ; but the whole place 
is terribly damp, and it is necessary to have fires perpetually 
burning, summer and winter, in order to keep the beautiful and 
costly decorations of the mausoleum from bein^ injured. 

The mausoleum was erected by the Queen in 1862 — Prince 
Albert died on December 14th, preceding — the foundation stone 
having been laid by the Queen on March 15th. The building 
was formally consecrated by the Bishop of Oxford on December 
17th, and on the following day the mortal remains of Prince 
Albert were removed from Windsor and placed in a temporar}- 
stone sarcophagus in the splendid edifice intended for his perma- 
nent resting place and for that of the Queen. 

The structure is in the form of a cross, with arms of about 
equal length, and a porch on the eastern side. The breadth is 
70 feet and the length 80 feet. The extreme height from the 
ground level to the top of the cross is 83 feet, and the height 

26 



402 BRITAIN'S QUEEN LAID TO REST. 

from tlie floor to the top of the roof, exclusive of the cross, 70 
feet. The external appearance of the mausoleum is somewhat 
plain, but the approach is strikingly effective, and at once pre- 
pares the visitor for what is contained inside. 

A grand flight of marble steps leads to the portico, on each 

^side of which stands the bronze figure of an angel. The entrance 

to the vestibule is by a broad and partly gilded grille, and above 

this, and under the heraldic quarterings of the Queen and Prince 

Albert, is the following inscription in Latin : 

ALBERTI PRINCIPIS OVOD MORTALE ERAT 

HOC IN SEPVLCRO DEPONI VOLVIT 

VIDVA MOERENS VICTORIA REGINA 

VALE DESIDERATISSIME ! HIC DEMVM 

CONQVIESCAM TECVM 

TECVM IN CHRISTO CONSTVCAM 

THE INSCRIPTION'S MEANING. 

This inscription may be translated thus : 

" His mourning widow, Victoria, the Queen, directed all that is mortal 
of Prince Albert to be placed in this sepulchre. Farewell, well-beloved ! 
Here at last I will rest with thee ; with thee in Christ I will rise again." 

The interior of the mausoleum is supassingly beautiful. The 
richly marbled and frescoed piers are cornered by Corinthian 
pilasters of statuary marble, with ormolo capitals supporting the 
arches that carry the lofty cupola, the azure ceiling of which is 
powdered with gold stars, and divided into panels by bands of 
miniature gilt angels, rising one above the other to the roof. In 
each of the arches hangs a bronze and gold lamp, the gift of the 
present King. 

Immediately beneath the dome, and at the centre of the richly 
variegated marble pavement, is the massive gray granite sarco- 
phagus, containing the coffin of the Prince Consort, a white mar- 
ble recumbent statue of whom, clad in his Field Marshal's uniform, 
and wearing the mantle of the Order of the Garter, lies on the 
right lid of the tomb. The left side of the lid, and the space under- 
neath the sarcophagus, have been unoccupied for thirty-nine years, 
awaiting the effigy and coffin of the Queen. Grandly designed 



BRITAIN'S QUEEN LAID TO REST. 403 

bronze angels of large size kneel with ontstretclied wings and 
flowing robes at the corners of the tomb, about the base of which 
are laid the wreaths of fresh flowers and immortelles constantly 
contributed by the members of the Royal family. 

On the piers of the mausoleum are white marble statues of 
David, Solomon, Daniel and Isaiah, and the intervals between the 
arches are filled in with frescoes of the four Evangelists. The 
side aisle on the left is adorned with a large mural painting of the 
Adoration of the Magi, in front of w^hich is the memorial of the 
late Princess Alice of Hesse, an exquisitely chiseled group of the 
Grand Duchess and her child. 

MONUMENTS AND PAINTINGS. 

There is also a monument to the Duke of Albany. Above 
the altar is a painting of the Resurrection. In the right aisle is 
a mural picture of the Crucifixion, the small niches in the side 
arches being filled with porphyr}^ vases mounted on bases of mala- 
chite. The upper part of the interior is also adorned with a series 
of bas-reliefs of Scripture subjects, inlaid work, and frescoes, not 
an inch of the walls being left undecorated. 

Over the entrance door, and placed so as to attract the atten- 
tion of those leaving the building is the text: — "Marvel not at 
this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave 
shall hear His voice." — St. John, fifth chapter, 28th verse. 

On only one day in the year has this magnificent tomb been 
opened heretofore to public inspection, and that day has been the 
anniversary of the Prince Consort's death, December 14th. Before 
the public has been admitted, the Queen and other members of 
the Royal family have visited the tomb and a service has been 
conducted in their presence by the Dean of Windsor. A specially 
selected anthem and hymns have been sung by the choir of St. 
George's Chapel on these accasions. After these services the 
building has been thrown open to the general public, admitted 
on tickets furnished by officials of the Castle and Windsor. 

In common with the mourning cities of the earth Philadel- 
phia and New York laid their wreaths on the bier of Victoria. 



404 BRITAIN'S OUEEN LAID TO REST. 

At the hour when England, garbed in mournful black, consigned 
the hallowed dead to the tomb, thousands of Philadelphians met 
to pay tribute to the Queen's memory. 

Not only in churches was there mourning. Almost every 
business exchange quit its hurry and bustle for the day and the 
halls of commerce remained silent and desolate. A million looms 
in Kensington ceased their clatter and the toilers of the mills 
wearing mourning badges, bowed their heads in sorrow, when 
the clergy sang their requiem for Victoria's soul. Besides the 
main service which was held at St. Mark's Chiirch, ceremonies 
were held at eight other churches. At each the old English ritual 
which was used in the cathedrals and churches of England on the 
death of William IV., George III. and George IV., was used. 

A CROWD OF WORSHIPERS. 

The great interest centered in *St. Mark's, where the main 
services were held at 3 o'clock. This service, which was under 
the direction of the English Consul in Philadelphia, was singu- 
larly impressive. Representatives of the various British societies 
attended, together with State and city of&cials. Justices of the 
Supreme Court, Judges of the courts, officers of the army and 
navy stationed in Philadelphia, officers of the Russian navy, repre- 
sentatives of foreign governments, prominent Pennsylvanians 
and representative persons of Philadelphia — so widespread was 
the interest. 

In all there were 6000 applications made for invitations to 
the services. St. Mark's, however, could only accommodate one- 
sixth of this number, and consequently the invitations issued 
were limited to that number. Holders of these invitations began 
presenting them at the church as early as 11.30 o'clock. With 
them came hundreds of persons who had not been able to secure 
the coveted tickets. It was a bus}- time for the door tenders. 
Holders of tickets were admitted and given seats, but those who 
had none were turned away. Thej^ did not leave without protest, 
though, and some even had to be driven away by the policemen 
stationed about the church to preserve order. 



BRITAIN'S QUEEN LAID TO REST. 405 

By 1.30 o'clock a large crowd liad assembled in tlie streets 
outside, commenting upon tlie constantly arriving guests, and 
crowding about tlie doors, in a vain attempt to force tbeir way 
inside. 

The interior of tbe cliurch, just before tbe liour for tbe ser- 
vices to begin, presented an impressive sight. Upon the black- 
draped altar shone lights innumerable, and at the foot, surround- 
ing the catafalque, upon which rested an empty casket, were 
many tall candelabra, supporting numerous branches. The 
walls of the edifice were heavily draped in black. The pulpit, 
reading desk, organ and altar rails were shrouded in the 
same sable hues. The supporting pillars of the nave were also 
enfolded from base to capital in black, and, in fact, there was 
barely a part of the church that did not bear the color of 
mourning. 

THE ROYAL PURPLE. 

The catafalque rested on a platform in the centre of main 
aisle. Its base, about two feet in height, extended the entire 
width of the aisle. The casket rested upon several tall trestles, 
and was covered by a royal purple pall, in the centre of which 
was a cross of white. At the foot — the head of the casket rested 
against the altar — stood a diamond-shaped shield of black. In its 
centre was the British coat-of-arms, the royal emblem being sur- 
rounded by the letters V. R. I. in white. At the foot also in white, 
were the dates of Victoria's reign — 1837 ^^^ 1901. 

On the top of the casket lay a single floral piece. It was a 
crown of golden-hued flowers, with dark red carnations, repre- 
senting the cap. On the silk ribbons with which it was tied 
was inscribed in gold letters, " A token of profound love and 
respect from his British Majesty's Consul and staff." Around the 
catafalque were many other floral tributes. 

Among these was a three-foot high anchor of violets, the top 
being surmounted by a crown of yellow carnations. The base 
was of smilax, and the purple ribbons which hung from the top 
bore the inscription of the Transatlantic Society of St. George. 



CHAPTER XXVIL 

Stately Pomp of the Funeral March. 

A HEAVY rain was falling at 9.30 o'clock, when the Royal 
■**■ mourners left the yachts for the Clarence Yard, where the 
Alberta had lain all night long, with the body of the Queen 
watched by a marine guard. Admiral Sir Charles Hothan, the 
flag officers, and the captains of all ships in the harbor, with 
other naval officers, attended the disembarkation of the body, 
which, at 8.45, was carried off the yacht. The landing place 
and the approaches to the station were heavily draped. Bnormous 
crowds had gathered. The royal train left Gosport for London 
at 8.53. 

Guards were mounted on the warships, and minute guns were 
fired as the coffin, borne by bluejackets, was transferred to the 
waiting saloon carriage. The scene was pathetic and imposing. 
The King, accompanied by Queen Alexandra and some princesses 
who passed the night on board the royal yacht Victoria and 
Albert proceeded to the roysl yacht Alberta in a steam launch. 
King Edward boarded the yacht five minutes after Emperor 
William had steamed alongside the Alberta from theHohenzollern. 

BLUE JACKETS FOR A GUARD. 

The guard of honor on the jetty consisted of several hundred 
marines and bluejackets. The commanders of the warships 
which took part in the pageant of the day before had alread}^ 
assembled under the covered way leading from the yacht to the 
railroad station. There was a short service on the yacht before 
the body was removed, the Duke of Connaught, the Crown Prince 
of Germany, Prince Arthur of Connaught, Prince Henry of 
Prussia, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Princess Henry 
of Battenberg being present. The only mourning visible was in 
the dresses of the prirt cesser. 



STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 407 

The firing of minute guns marked the passage of the coffin 
to the draped railroad station, to which it was borne shoulder high 
by petty officers of the royal j^achts, preceded by a clergyman. 
Immediately behind the coffin were carried the crown, globe, 
standard, and a few choice wreaths. King Edward, Emperor 
William, the Duke of Connaught and the Crown Prince followed 
the remains, and then came the ladies of the Royal Family and 
the Admirals. The progress of this mournful procession was 
marked by the firing of the guns and the strains of the funeral 
march. The wind-driven rain was falling in torrents. The cof- 
fin was placed on the dais and Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon, King 
Edward, Queen Alexandra, Emperor William, and the other 
members of the Royal Family took their seats, and the train 
moved off. 

MYRIAD HEARTS MOVED WITH SORROW. 

One great deep sigh^ direct from the hearts of millions of 
earnestly sincere mourners, was the accompaniment to the passage 
of that particularly short built cof&n containing all the mortal 
remains of the greatest queen the world has known, over the 
whole three miles and a half of the streets of London. 

You ask what was the most touching sights of to-day, which 
thrilled even the most callous with a feeling of intense tender- 
ness. The reply is that it was when, as that beloved body 
passed, born upon the gun carriage of khaki color, every hat, as 
by natural instinct, was removed, every head was bowed, every 
voice was hushed, every face displayed an awe-stricken appear- 
ance, as if what was passing was too sacred to look upon. 

Women burst into tears. Many of them shrieked out as 
they lost consciousness, and were carried away by the staff of the 
ambulance corps. Never, if anything can be judged from out- 
ward appearances, has any mourning been so deeply felt as that 
shown to the memory of Queen Victoria. The evidences of 
mourning were intense. The solemnity of 'the whole pageant* 
was slich that none will ever forget who witnessed it. ~ ■ " . 

Most. persons had gone to bed late ,over night, but the whoTe 



408 STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 

town was astir early. Thousands had never gone to bed at all. 
People from the country, failing to find house room, had slept 
anywhere. The night was cold, and early dawn revealed a strong 
white frost. It almost reminded one of the extraordinary priva- 
tions that Russian peasants underwent to witness the Czar's 
coronation ceremony. 

At seven o'clock the streets were already lined. An hour 
earlier many had chosen a lamp post to stand by and stick to, to 
save themselves from being swept away. There they remained 
with stoical patience and unfailing good temper five long hours, 
until the procession had passed. By seven o'clock a host of curi- 
ous people lined the edges of the pavement. Each was engaged, 
with a few exceptions, in reading a paper. The result was that in 
looking down the line of any of the streets most occupied one saw 
an endless line of newspapers. 

VIOLETS FOR MOURNING SYMBOLS. 

Old persons, some quite of the age of the Queen, brought 
their own camp stools. The women soon got tired and sat dowi\. 
en masse on the edge of the pavement ; some used papers to sit 
upon, others small bits of board which they had brought with 
them. Many wore violets, symbolic of the purple mourning. 
All wore mourning garb. The whole appearance of the people 
was as of those who had slept little. In fact, the town had not 
slept. When they went to bed carpenters were still frantically 
hammering nails into boards and making stands. At six o'clock 
in the morning they were still at it. But the result was really 
admirable. 

All the honors went to St. James street, which was beauti- 
tifuUy decorated from end to end. Some of the decorations must 
have cost large amounts, for of the cloth used were samples of 
pure archil purple, rich and rare. There were few instances of 
that' particular purple which in other parts of the town, especially 
tljjfc Edgeware road district, came under what may be called garish 
or livid colors. 

Nor bad tlic clubs beeu closed all night. During the small 



STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 409 

hours of the night in every instance sudden transformations had 
been made. By the time the members hurriedly retiirned in the 
morning solid stands had appeared at all the windows. Where 
they came from none knew, but there they were. 

There was no settled hour of opening the clubs. The mem- 
bers hastened in furtively before the sun had risen and laid their 
'hats on the newly made stands to signify that they had the right 
to them. Ladies were accepted in every club, even the most 
exclusive and old fashioned ones. These came early, too, because 
they knew that by being late they would not have a chance of 
passing through the vast throng outside. 

GREAT THRONG IN ST. JAMES STREET. 

By eight o'clock St. James street was almost jammed. A 
strange sight was seen at the clubs. The ladies whose friends 
had the luck to draw lucky numbers were to be found at an unus- 
ually early hour breakfasting in the sanctum sanctorum, the 
club dining room, enjoying it vastly, by the way, and having, in 
reply to their eager inquiries, the most noted members pointed 
out to them. All looked upon the forthcoming sight in the most 
solemn mood, as the historical event of the century. These ladies 
too, who perhaps never in their lives before were troubled to get 
up early, were up this day when the sparrows first began to 
twitter. Their whole souls, just like those of the populace, were 
given up to their grief 

Old people, while the long wait lasted, talked of the famous 
burial of the Duke of Wellington. That procession, they said, 
extended from Constitution Hill to St. Paul's. This was quite 
double that length. There were those who told of the Kaiser's 
recent splendid behavior, how he and the Princess of Wales had 
in turn for nearly six hours held up the head of the Queen in her 
last mortal agony, and how His Imperial Majest}^, finding that 
labor was scarce at Osborne owing to the multiplicity of matters 
10 be attended to, had himself taken a hammer and tacks and had, 
with much artistic taste, arranged the draperies, the hanging of 
which had been undertaken by a big firm. 



410 STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 

Lord Roberts passed down St. James street with his scarlet 
bound field marshal's staff in his hand. Man 3^ persons cheered 
and there was considerable waving of pocket handkerchiefs. 
But " Bobs" went along, looking as annoyed as he was capable of. 
He evidently did not think such ovations at this particular time 
were appropriate, and he showed it in his face. 

But as he passed down in the midst of all his glorious 
surroundings he looked up with a friendly expression to a 
small balcony over a jeweller's shop. On that balcony were 
ranged a lot of old men in the well known red uniform of the 
Chelsea Pensioners' Home for Aged Soldiers. By that attention 
he made those white headed and white bearded old warriors 
doubly happy. The first great happiness he had given them was 
by securing this particular balcony for the special use. Few per- 
sons knew that this kind action was the work of Lord Roberts. 
Others who knew said, "Ah, yes, 'Bobs' always does the right 
thing." 

FONDNESS FOR CHILDREN. 

The Queen loved little children and little children loved her. 
From all over the country came beautiful evergreen wreaths, made 
by children, and sent around in carts. The message of the 
children was : "Please do put them up on the line of the route 
where the poor Queen's body will pass." And their beautiful 
wreaths, so lovingly worked, figured everywhere it was possible 
to put them. 

Punctual to the miiiiitd the train arrived at Victoria Station. 
K ing Edward is a stickier on punctuality. It is second nature 
with him. He dire-cted the entire ceremonies. He insisted 
especially upon punctuality, and he was a little ahead of it. 

About this time the crush became euormous in King street, 
one of the principal arteries leading into St. James street. The 
mob at one time seriously threatened to "overcome the force placed 
to keep it back. ColonerTrotter, the energetic commandant of 
the home" district, 'firsT praced'HUssafs' there, their horseg being 
backed into "the crowd,'but "they were" simply swept" away by the 



STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 411 

surging mass. Tiien he called in the aid of heavy cavalry 
dragoons. After much trouble, and letting out a certain number 
of the crowd and chasing them down the street, they managed to 
get the crowd back in line just as the procession began to move. 
This kind of thing occurred at many points, for the crowd 
was beyond anything ever before seen in London, having been 
further added to by the ro^^al order that every place of business 
should close. The procession itself really started from about the 
top of St. James street. So long was it that the only way found 
possible to manage it was to start it off at the slowest possible 
measure. After the marchers had gone thus a few minutes the 
order came, through signallers stationed along the line, to move 
quicker. The procession then fell into a brisk march, to the 
relief of the soldiers and somewhat to the astonishment of the 
spectators. 

CARE FOR FAINTING WOMEN. 

As the crowd began to push the ambulance corps were kept 
busy picking up the women who were fainting away. When once 
the procession started the most wonderful thing was the almost 
terrible hushed silence amid such a vast concourse. Not a sound 
could be heard beyond the continuous martial tramp, tramp of 
heavy feet upon the wood pavement. Never a word came from 
the crowd except now and again the disquieting shriek of some 
hysterical woman alarmed and fainting. Meanwhile the sun had 
shone out brightly. 

As each section of the procession passed, bringing nearer the 
cof&n, the suppressed excitement rose higher and higher, till 
finally there arose a sort of deep murmur, accompanied by distant 
sounds of music and muffled drums, the combined bands playing a 
funeral march in the slowest possible time. All faces bore an 
expression of intense strain on the nerves. An aide-de-camp and 
two signallers, who galloped furiously past. as if out of breath, 
served to divert attention from the painful, strain. . 

- , -. Then a cry- -arose like ^ a \y.ail,_ '_' Poor.old _ Queen ! " All 
seemed to say the same thing as by one common train of thoughts 



412 STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 

The famous cream steeds so loved by the Queen appeared with 
trappings rich and beautiful and hitched to an unusual vehicle, 
that khaki colored gun carriage. Ah ! how the women wept then. 
There was scarcely a dry eye among them. Many of them tarned 
away and wept bitterly, and men sobbed like school boys. It 
may be doubted if there was one among those hundreds of thou- 
sands who looked upon that coffin with its rich pall so beautifully 
embroidered, with its silk Union Jack fondly folded over the 
top, with that crown, on a red velvet cushion, which the Queen 
had worn, and that diadem and sceptre, without feeling exceeding 
emotion. No, it was far too much for that crowd, worked up by 
its long hours of waiting. "Poor old Queen!" the}^ said, and 
said no more, but it meant volumes which their hearts were too 
full to utter. 

ALL EYES ON KING EDWARD. 

How will the King look ? All eyes were riveted upon him. 
Mounted upon a superb bay horse, he wore an air which was never 
seen before. He was no longer the Prince of Wales. The deep 
responsibitity of the last few days had given his face quite another 
look. He seemed to have grown. He held his head high. He 
looked the King every inch of him. "Wonderful !" exclaimed 
some at my side, who knew him as he was and saw him so 
changed. 

His eyes seemed everywhere. He appeared to be taking in 
everything on the route, alert, watching, seeing, noting every- 
thing. That was the strong impression he gave, and he must have 
been thoroughly pleased with what his favorite quarter of the 
town had done. 

Next to interest the crowd came the Kaiser. Like the King, 
he wore a field marshal's uniform and bestrode a great white 
horse. But he was not an imposing figure. In what contrast 
was the great, big, full blooded King of Portugal, with his fair 
hair and carefully curled cavalier mustache. The latter was the 
embodiment of health, the picture of good humor, a man free 
from care. 



STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 41S 

Three younger princes, all heir? to thrones, attracted attention. 
They were riding together. These were the Crown Prince of 
Roumania, the great heavy limbed Duke of Sparta, and in the 
centre the lithe, elegant, youthful figure of the Crown Prince of 
Germany in a great gray officer's coat. With his pale, thoughtful 
face, touching in its sorrow, and his admirable bearing, his wliole 
aspect left a most sympathetic effect on the public mind seeking 
for impressions. 

Murmurs of admiration and sympathy went up when the 
royal carriage containing the new Queen and her daughters 
passed. Deepl}^ clothed in black, with great lace veils over their 
"aces and intentionally avoiding the public gaze, they sat far 
back in these old fashioned, deep carriages and nothing was seen 
of them. 

A few minutes later the street was one great moving mass of 
people, as if a dam had broken which let the waters loose in all 
directions. This surging of the uncontrolled throng into the 
street was not the least, by far, of the wonderful sights which 
were seen this day. 

A RUSH FOR RELICS. 

I have told you of the wreaths which were suspended on 
every lamp post along the route of the procession. No sooner 
was the procession past than, as if by one accord, all made a rush 
for leaves and sprigs from the wreaths as mementoes of this 
greatest funeral ever known, and a sort of relic of the Queen, 
which will be treasured in the household for years to come. 

The following impressions were given by one who was in the 
peers' stand : 

"A wild struggle at half-past eight o'clock in the morning 
through St. James street, through the rows of kilted lads standing 
at ease, with the strong, unformed faces of jejune youth and the 
quips and laughter of the suburbs and provinces on their lips ; 
undisciplined children, ignoring the flag, ignoring their officers. 
A savage race for life at the tail of carriages and cabs for better 
protection, with generals in vv'hite plumes and 'hooligans' in 



414 STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 

rags hustling one another, tearing the skirts from court dames 
and Piccadilly damsels, with the coachmen of duchesses in creped 
liveries swearing in the language of 'bus conductors at bespan- 
gled diplomats not alert enough to get out of their way. 

" A suffocating, ruthless scuffle over which the policeman, 
red and angry, kept intoning his eternal ' Pass away, there ! 
You can't pass without a ticket. Pass away there ! ' And so 
I reached the peers' stand at the corner of the Mall, an excel- 
lent place, because the procession was to move right up the 
Mall along our front line of vision, through that ancient avenue 
of trees reserved for royal progression, and then, turning the 
corner into the courtyard of St. James's Palace, would pass almost 
at our feet. 

"The first impression was a confusion of color, color inhar- 
monious to the last degree— a vaguely bizarre background of dull 
gray, leaden mist, against which were outlined the smoke black- 
ened trees of the park, withered and leafless. 

GOLD TRAPPINGS OF THE GUARD. 

"Half wa};^ up the dome of the sky was a sickly yellow smear 
of sun, which now and again threw out an almost imperceptible 
gleam, perfunctorily responded to by gold epaulettes and the 
polish of cuirass and helmet, but insuf&cient for warmth or con- 
solation. 

"The whole foreground and middle distance was a compact 
and writhing mass of black, relieved only by the gamboge of the 
pale and anxious faces, an immeasurable mob, with a topping of 
the universal mourning. By degrees the trees in the park became 
thick with adventurous climbers. Bundles of boys hung from 
ihe becraped lamp posts. Now and then there was a shriek and 
a sharp crack as somebody's skull struck hard upon the pavement. 
A branch had broken. A great yell went up, half scream of pain, 
half shout of laughter. 

"The thin streak of white helmeted soldiers which divided 
the mob in the centre of the Mall was now in motion. As the 
clock, Big Ben of Westminster, struck eleven in deep toned 



STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 415 

accents a great bravo of Welcome wafted its noisy echo over the 
thousand serried ranks of the crowd across the vast expanse of 
park. Lord Roberts, looking bigger, younger and browner than 
the portraits show him, had arrived at the head of his staff and 
was giving directions, pointing with his marshal's baton to this. 
spot and that. He did not answer the applause, but he did not 
decline it. He looked grave and preoccupied. 

" Popular generals were recognized and pointed out as they 
passed through the Mall en route to Victoria Station, but there 
was no cheering. That very tall Highland of&cer, with stern, 
full, Scottish features, sallow face and two dark cavities under 
his brows, who is tottering along on the arm of a captain of Dra- 
goons, followed b}^ a thick set soldier servant in a kilt, is a recip- 
ient of the Victoria Cross, who rallied an English detachment in 
South Africa and saved it from capture at the cost of his e37esight. 
He is one of the heroes of the war, but the crowd did not recognize 
him. It knew but few of the famous men present. 

MURMURS OF ADMIRATION. 

"Indeed, the English of&cer makes no appeal to the public's 
love of ' hero worship." It recognized none of the regiments and 
could barely distinguish the British Hussar from an Austrian 
attache. Many of the uniforms roused murmurs of admiration 
but also astonishment. 

" There were men in khaki, with broad brimmed hats bound 
with red ribbon, the flaps turned up on the right side. Who were 
these ? Bushmen. Then there were men with Zouave trousers 
and red fezzes. Who would have thought that West Indian 
regiments were costumed thus ? You might have taken them for 
Frenchmen. 

"Those Colonials, with green cock feathers spreading over 
their felt helmets, are just like Italian bersagliers. In such con- 
fusion, remark and observation the time was whiled away, until 
suddenly, at a word of command, all these incoherent elements 
grouped themselves together as if by magic. A distant bell 
began to toll. 



416 STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 

'* ' Reverse, arms ! ' rang out, and in columns of companies tlie 
soldiers wlio had been guarding the route joined in the proces- 
sion, the top of which had been formed some hundreds of yards 
ahead. Very slowly, with features almost ecstatically solemn, 
they passed along. Flashes from the white flags of the signalling 
corporals accompanying each battalion and squadron regulated 
the rate of progress. 

"The black tinselled helmets of the artillerymen, the sombre, 
billowy mass of busbies, the flutter of the Lancers' pennons of 
red and white, the flash of the Dragoons' helmets and cuirasses, 
and also, under the forest of lances, the thin, tilted straw hats of 
the sailors over their blue and white uniforms, the brown fur of 
the Yeomanry's hats, the shining black and brass ornaments of 
shakoes, the gold braid of dolmans, the glitter of steel and brass 
and red and gold succeeded one another in endless arraj^, an orgy 
of mufiled magnificence, the half hidden pride of color subdued 
by the fog of mourning. 

REMINDERS OF WATERLOO. 

"What a contrast from the splendor of the Jubilee! How 
many ages seemed to be represented in that sparkling cortege, 
of which every detail was a souvenir of military pomp no longer 
practicable ! Those red-coated cuirassiers were a far off echo of 
Waterloo. Those Hussars were pure empire, and the very gen- 
erals and marshals looked as if they might have stepped out of 
one of Meissonier's pictures. 

"No sooner had these soldiers, clad in the ghostly raiment 
of secular battlefields, passed by than I fell right back into the 
Georgian age, with the cream-colored ponies drawing the hearse, 
the pink stockinged coachmen of the state carriages, with their 
gold braided liveries and three cornered hats, while here and 
there I note a khaki cork helmet, which would suddenly surge 
up to make anachronisms of all these impressions. Nor did the 
flat commercial gray of the volunteers, nor their lugubrious 
black, nor the silent pipers with their streaming tartans, tend to 
lessen this incoherency. 



STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 4n 

"Only the funeral music of the massed bands pla3'ed 
Chopin's dead march triumphed over tlie contradictory color of 
the waves of uniform and livery and drowned all hearts in the 
unison of sorrow and respect. A throb went through the vast 
mass of spectators as the little white cofiin containing the royal 
remains slowly approached on its simple khaki colored gun car- 
riage, covered with the royal standard and an embroidered purple 
pall bearing the royal and imperial diadems and sceptre. Here, 
indeed, was simple and perfect pathos. 

" All heads uncovered, and there was a murmur of sympathy 
alike for the dead Queen and the new King, whose features 
majestic in their grave, chastened sorrow, outlined themselves 
clearly and finely against the gray sky as he followed close behind 
the cortege, the German Emperor, pale and expressionless, at his 
side. Then there were no eyes for anything else, and rapidly the 
black surging sea of mourning humanity ebbed away." 

The following lines by BUa Wheeler Wilcox vividly com- 
memorate the scene : 

THE QUEEN'S LAST RIDE. 

The Queen is taking a drive to-day. 
They have hung with purple the carriage way ; 
They have dressed with purple the royal track, 
Where the Queen goes forth and never comes back. 

Let no man labor as she goes by 
On her last appearance to mortal eye ; 
With heads uncovered let all men wait 
For the Queen to pass in her regal state. 

Army and navy shall lead the way 
For that wonderful coach of the Queen's to-day. 
Kings and Princes and lords of the land 
Shall ride behind her, a humble band. 
And over the city and over the world 
Shall flags of all nations be half-mast furled 
For the silent lady of royal birth 
Who is riding away from the courts of earth — 
Riding away from the world's unrest 
To a mystical goal on a secret quest. 
27 



418 STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 

Though in regal splendor she drives through town 
Her robes are simple, shh wears no crown. 
And yet she wears one — for, widowed no more, 
She is crowned with the love that has gone before, 
And crowned with the love she has left behind 
In the hidden depths of each thinking mind. 

Uncover your heads, lift your heart on high, 
For the Queen in silence is driving by. 

An eye witness of the impressive scene at Windsor wliere 
tlie Queen was entombed thus describes it : 

" It might have been known beforehand that Windsor's royal 
borough, where the late Queen spent so many years of her life, 
and where she was so generally beloved by the inhabitants, would 
have presented an even sadder and more impressive picture than 
the metropolis itself 

HARD WORK FOR THE POLICE. 

"There was heartfelt mourning on the part of the people of 
Windsor. )eeply sincere it surely was, but it was well that the 
military and pol .e arrangements for guarding the route of the 
procession from the station to the castle were perfect. As it was, 
the police had a good deal of work to keep the unruly portion of 
the crowd in order, in some cases having to use force. 

" When I got down to Windsor early in the morning 1 found 
all the town astir. It was mild, but cloudy, and even threatened 
rain. Not a breath stirred the Union Jack over the castle. It 
dapped idly against the mast. Everybody was dressed in the 
deepest mourning and seemed to be wending his way castleward 
or to the station to take the place allotted to each as a resident of 
the royal borough — these places were held by ticket — because it 
had been given out by printed notice that the street would be 
closed to traf&c after half-past ten o'clock. 

"That the inhabitants of Windsor profoundly mourned their 
Queen was apparent on almost every face passed. Old and young 
alike, all showed their grief Many women I saw with tears in 
their eyes as they realized that they were now going to pay the 
la3t tribute of respect to the dear sovereign to whom not so very 



STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL MARCH. 419 

long ago tliey had bidden mi revoir^ never dreaming it would 
prove the last good-bye. 

" I confess that the walk from the station up to Castle Hill, 
seeing those mourners wending their way to attend the funeral, 
was a sight most touching and the very essence of pathos. By 
half-past nine the castle walls presented an animated yet dismal 
sight. All along the walls facing the street was one line of 
people, a long black line, with not one touch of color anywhere. 
The sky now began to clear. Touches of blue were seen here and 
there. Hopes now rose that the rain, which up till now it had 
been feared would make the day more dismal than it was, would 
hold off. 

" Then, again, the scene began to change. Till now all had 
been placid. Nothing but quiet, heartbroken mourners had filled 
the streets, with the exception of the soldiery passing and repas- 
sing on their way to take up their positions along the procession 
route. Just before ten o'clock the first excursion trains began to 
arrive, followed by many more fast after one another. 

THOUSANDS OF VISITORS. 

"Within an hour thousands of strangers had poured into the 
town, hurrying and scurrying hither and thither, hustling and 
jostling, eager to secure as quickly as possible, by fair means or 
otherwise, the best positions along the sides of the streets, for all 
knew that as the distance which the cortege had to traverse was a 
very short one there could not be room for one tithe of the people 
streaming into the town to see the procession. 

" A call at two of the ambulance stations after all was over 
revealed the fact that not a few very serious casualties took place, 
mostly of women being crushed by the violence of the mob. What 
were the feelings of the people of Windsor only a glance up and 
down the street made apparent. Every house was draped in pur- 
ple and black, quite as profusely as in London. At every window 
were seen mournful faces. Every point of vantage had been 
seized. 

"Every roof within seeing distance of the procession was 



420 STATELY POMP OF THE FUNERAL. MARCH. 

covered witli men and boys armed witli glasses, watching in tlie 
distance for tlie first signs of tlie fnneral train. It was first from 
tlie excitement of tliose on tlie lionsetops tliat the people below 
got the news that the train was in sight. It was just about half- 
past two that in the distance one could hear the sob, sob of the 
engine bringing home all that was left of her who was Queen 
Victoria. 

"' Boom !' went the first of the rainute guns, which told of 
the arrival of the train. ' Toll ! ' went the first bell, followed by- 
others in the town. Then it was that the pent-up emotion of the 
people at the windows gave way. Many were the handkerchiefs 
I could see held to the eyes. Overhead I could hear the heart- 
broken sobbing of a woman who could also hear the approach and 
had to be removed to be comforted. 

UNABLE TO BEAR THE STRAIN. 

" Not far behind, too, I heard the nervous, hysterical cry of 
a woman who, after several hours of waiting, had to go away, 
unable to bear the strain till the procession had passed. If it was 
so within this narrow space where I stood, how many more such 
pathetic scenes must have taken place here ? 

" Presently, amid the booming of guns and tolling of bells, 
came the sounds of the mournful music of the procession. As it 
came in sight the murmurs of the people were silenced. Heads 
were reverently bared as the funeral car passed. King, Kmperor 
and Princes following on foot, keeping slow step to the music of 
the band. Bverybody who got a view seemed deeply moved. It 
was more than touching. It was painful to hear the sobs of the 
women. 

"The eyes of the men, too, showed more than a suspicion of 
tears, and when spoken to they answered either with a nod or a 
shake of the head, unable to trust themselves to utter a word. 
What added mournfulness to the scene was that just when the 
first gun was heard the sky began to darken as the procession 
wended its way to the Castle and became quite overcast. " 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Memorial Services and Tributes. 

A PATHOS and solemnity sucli as seldom mark tlie passing 
from daylight into darkness of a cof&n, tke royal family, on 
January 25tli, took their last loving look at the features of the 
dead Queen. The cof&n was taken into the bedroom about ten 
o'clock in the morning. King Edward, the Emperor William, the 
Duke of Connaught, Sir James Reid and the royal ladies were 
there waiting. The latter having retired, Sir James Reid, with 
reverent hands, assisted by three trusted household servants, and 
in the presence of the King, the Emperor and the Duke removed 
the body from the bed to the coffin. 

Not a trace of suffering was visible. The servants having 
retired, Queen Alexandra, the Princes and the children were 
recalled, and with lingering steps and stifled sobs, they passed 
slowly before the white robed peaceful figure. 

At the foot, never moving, stood the King, and when the 
mourning crowd had passed there remained only the son and 
grandson of the dead. The Emperor William wept even more 
bitterly than the royal ladies. Finally he also retired, and the 
King was left alone. Sir James Reid, beckoning to the servants 
with the coffin Hd, asked the King's instructions. For a few sec- 
onds the King stood speechless, stricken with emotion at the last 
farewell. Then he said quickly : — " Close it finally. It must not 
be opened again." Thus the body of England's greatest ruler 
was forever shut off from human view. 

Reverently the coffin was borne into the dining room. Of&cers 
and men from the royal yachts took their stand around the cof&n, 
over which the King, Queen and Kaiser gently laid the robes of 
a Knight of the Garter, placing at the head a diamond crown. 
Beneath lay the royal ensign, while hanging above wasthe Union 
Jack. At the altar was the rector of Whippingham, who read a 
portion afthe funeral service in the presence of the ro3/al family. 

421 



422 ' MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES. 

Emperor William covered his face with his hands, and the grief of 
Princess Beatrice was pitiful. After the benediction each placed 
a wreath upon the co£&n and then all retired. 

The great east window of St. George's Chapel, at Windsor, 
with its faint stained figures, threw a soft light over this burial 
and worshiping place of kings, the service in whicli was one of 
the most marvelous sights of Her Majesty's funeral on Februar}^ 
2d. Such an array of royalty and so many flaming colors never 
were concentrated in so small a space. Before each oaken stall 
glimmered the waxen taper which burns when Knights of the 
Garter are present. Above their heads, resting upon the carved 
sabres of the stalls, were the special insignia of each knight, 
while hanging over this were the motionless banners bearing the 
strange devices of the members of the order. 

GLITTERING GOLD AND RED. 

On each side of the chancel flamed two rows of candles, in 
the light of which glittered the gold and red worn by the knights. 
In sombre contrast sat the long line of Princesses and ladies-in- 
waiting, making a foreground of deepest black. 

Among the early arrivals were Ministers and former Minis- 
ters in full state uniform, their breasts a mass of gold braid. 
Members of the Cabinet took their seats in a row. The castle 
courtyard was filled with privileged spectators. Exquisite wreaths 
almost covered the chapel steps. Inside, while those in gorgeous 
uniforms and deep black took their places, court attendants in 
gold and black and pages costumed in the style of George III.'s 
reign, with big lace ruffles, bright red coats and white breeches 
and stockings, flitted hither and thither. 

With the brilliancy of of&cial costumes vied in splendor the 
College of Heralds, gorgeous in quaint mantles, tabards and insig- 
nia, and the mediaeval looking Yeomen of the Guard, carrying 
their halberds at slope. Lord Salisbury followed, wearing a velvet 
skull cap and wrapped in an ordinary black overcoat over a plain 
court uniform. The ladies-in-waiting, veiled as the Princesses 
were, took their seats on a long bench below the stalls. 



MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES 423 

Lord Rosebery entered about a quarter after i o'clock. Most 
of the Diplomatic Corps occupied two rows of stalls on tbe rigbt 
of tbe cbancel. His brilliant robes made the Chinese Minister 
most conspicuous. Baron Eckhardstein, the giant of the Diplo- 
matic Corps, in attendance upon Count von Hatzfeldt-Wilden- 
burg, the German Ambassador, towered above all others in the 
magnificent white and gold uniform of the German army. The 
Haytian Minister with black face, formed a severe contrast to 
Count von Hatzfeldt, who sat next to him. 

From the court\^ard came the sounds of sharp commands, as 
troops were brought to attention or shifted. Two o'clock came, 
and the congregation was coughing uneasily. At a quarter after 
two Sir Walter Parratt, at the organ, began Mendelssohn's march 
in B minor from the '' Songs Without Words." The Castle clock 
struck the half-hour, and the organ ceased. 

SOUND OF SALUTING GUNS. 

The sound of the slowly saluting guns was heard, and silence 
fell on the assemblage. Ten minutes passed, and Sir Walter 
Parratt played softly. White-haired statesmen, one by one, 
dropped into their seats. The strain was too much, and the 
diplomats followed siiit. The music of the bands could be heard 
first faintly and then nearer and nearer, until the majestic roll of 
the funeral march penetrated every corner of the chapel. 

Quietly, with no heralding, the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
the Bishop of Winchester and the Dean of Windsor, who were to 
officiate, walked from the vestry down to the chancel, followed by 
the choir. The nobles rose to their feet. For fifteen minutes the 
congregation listened to the military bands outside. At twenty 
minutes after three the doors swung open. "I Am the Resurrec- 
tion" was sung by the choir. Slowly the white robed boys made 
their way up the aisle. After the Archbishop of Canterbury 
came the white rods, the coffin borne by grenadiers, and then the 
equerries, carrying the pall and regalia. 

Walking together came the King, Emperor William and the 
Puke of Connaught. Behind them were the King of the Belgians, 



424 MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES. 

tlie King of Greece and tHe King of Portugal, and after tliem tlie 
royal Princes. The American Ambassador, entered with the 
procession and sat in a corner near the master of ceremonies. 
The choir, having passed to the right of the altar, and the Queen 
and Princesses having gone to their positions in the Queen's 
Gallery, overlooking the altar, the service proceeded. 

The iVrchbishop stood at the altar steps, directly before the 
coffin. On his left was the Bishop of Winchester, in scarlet 
robes, who read the regular lesson for the dead. The Duke of 
Cambridge was helped to a stall, being unable to stand any 
longer. The coffin rested upon a catafalque placed at the steps 
of the altar. The cross over the communion table was covered 
with white flowers, and the reredos was almost concealed with 
sprays of fern dotted with lilies. 

IMPRESSIVE RITUAL. 

" Man That is Born of Woman " was chanted by the choir to 
Wesley's music, followed by "Thou Knowest, Lord, the Secrets 
of Our Hearts." The Dean of Windsor read: "I Heard a 
Voice," and the choir sang the Lord's Prayer to music composed 
by Gounod especially for the late Queen. Once more the strains 
of the choir welled up through the ancient chapel with Tchai- 
kowsky's " How Blessed Are They That Die." 

A few sobs were heard, and the choir then broke the oppres- 
sive stillness with the sweet harmony of the "Dresden Amen." 
Then the loud tones of the Norrey King of Arms, William 
Henry Weldon, proclaimed the dead monarch's titles, ending 
with " God Save the King," in such dramatic tones, that his 
hearers started with realization that a new regime had begun. 
Spohr's anthem, " Blessed Are the Departed," followed, and the 
service ended with Beethoven's funeral march, played by Sir 
Walter Parratt. 

The trembling voice of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who 
is almost blind, had scarcely ended the final benediction before he 
turned to go up the altar steps. His sight and strength failed 
him, and he tottered, groped and was on the point of falling when 



MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES. 425 

tlie Archbishop of York, who had been standing some distance 
behind him, advanced and canght his hand, and gently led the 
venerable prelate to the holy table. Then they both knelt, the 
greatest dignitaries of England's church, next in rank to the 
royal blood, their heads bowed upon the purple altar cloth. 

While the Archbishop prayed and the Bishops and clergy 
reverentlj^ kept their knees, the King and Emperor William, 
followed by three other Kings, walked almost hurriedly up to the 
altar rails and out into the castle by a private exit. Their gor- 
geous suites followed mechanically, and a kaleidoscope of color 
and royalty surged by the chancel. Against this hurrying throng 
the cofiiii and kneeling figures within the holy enclosure stood 
out in contrast. 

At four o'clock the service was over. The Archbishop of 
Cai'ierbury bowed his head on the altar and prayed, and the Kings 
and Princesses passed to the left of the altar leaving the coffin and 
the c itafalque and passing into the castle. 

MEMORIAL SERVICES IN MANY PLACES. 

Simultaneousl}'^ with the funeral services at Windsor 
impressive memorial services were held at St. Paul's, West- 
minster Abbey and churches of every denomination throughout 
the United Kingdom. Five thousand persons managed to get 
into St. Paul's Cathedral, and 5000 more tried to follow. The 
Lord Mayor and corporation and representatives of the city guilds 
and public bodies of all kinds attended the Cathedral. At West- 
minster Abbey and the adjoining St. Margaret's Church peers 
and commons mustered in large numbers. Music was a very 
prominent feature of all the services. 

Cable dispatches from all parts of the empire gave details of 
similar observances. Everywhere there was a suspension of bus- 
iness. Foreign countries were not behind the British colonies 
in mourning Queen Victoria. From all parts of the world came 
cable reports that the day vv^as commemorated by special services, 
some of which were of an official character. 

At Lisbon the day was one of national mourning, and 



426 MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES. 

throughout Portugal flags were half-masted, the ships and forts 
firing guns at fifteen minute intervals. To-night a salute of 
twenty-one guns will be fired, and the theatres will be closed. At 
Teheran an impressive service in the Protestant Church was 
attended by the princes, Grand Vizier, ministers, high officials, 
diplomatic corps and all the Europeans. 

At Jerusalem a service was held in St. George's Church. The 
consuls and local authorities attended in uniform. From Dres- 
den, Trieste, Tangier, Port Said, Funchal, Paris, Berlin, Vienna 
and scores of other points the same story was repeated. In every 
case the services were attended by the local authorities and rep 
resentatives of the courts. 

MOURNING IN CANADA. 

All over Canada there were demonstrations of mourning for 
Queen Victoria. At Ottawa, the headquarters of the civil govern- 
ment, services M^ere held attended by the Governor General, the 
officials and representatives of the people. In every city of any 
size from Halifax to Vancouver buildings and stores were draped 
in the mourning colors, black and purple and white, and religious 
services were held by all denominations. 

Halifax being the military headquarters in British North 
America, was the chief city of mourning in Canada. Hundreds of 
flags were at half-mast, thousands of 3^ards of sombre draperies 
hung from the homes and buildings of the city and business 
houses and stores were closed during the hours of the funeral. 

The chief interest centered in the military exercises in Gar- 
rison Chapel. Colonel Biscoe, commanding the forces in British 
North America, attended by the officers of the staff, paid tribute 
to the dead sovereign. At St. Paul's, the Lieutenant Governor, 
representative of the King, accompanied by a staff of officers, 
attended services. 

In the evening eighty-one guns were fired at the citadel, the 
last one just at sunset, and in accordance with the wish of the 
King, the fortress flags will fly at half-mast until after the intej*' 
ment at Windsor. 



MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES. 



427 



In Montreal, tlie fire bells rang at minute intervals and the 
cliurcli bells tolled. In all the cburclies solemn requiem services 
were held. All business was suspended. A remarkable scene 
occurred in front of the Montreal Star office, where pictures of the 
late Queen were distributed. Thousands besieged the office and 
closed up St. James street for traffic, and many were hurt in the 
crush. 

^' Cape Town, Feb. 2. — The city was draped to-day with 
mourning, and from early morning streams of people placed 




UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. 

wreaths at the foot of the Queen's statue in Parliament House 
Garden. At noon eight hundred members of the Royal Women's 
Guild marched past the statue. Wreaths from every part of 
South Africa were deposited about the statue, notably from the 
insurgent district. The wreaths covered the lawn." 

" Calcutta, Feb. 2. — The outburst of mourning here for the 
Queen is unique in its intensity. There was an imposing state 
service in the Cathedral, the Hindoos holding an enormous open 
air service. The Mahommedan shops are closed." 

"Bombay, Feb. 2. — The mourning here was general. The 
stores and banks were closed, and trains and street railroads 
worked on Sunday schedules. Native soldiers, with arms 



428 



MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES. 



reversed, watched tlie Queen's statue all niglit long, and at dawn 
natives flocked thither to deposit wreaths. Many remained to 
pray before the statue." 

"Hong Kong, Feb. 2. — Services were held to-day at the 
Cathedral, the governor and council, the Government officials 
and the British and foreign naval and military officers attending. 
A special Chinese service was held in the afternoon." 

"x\delaide, South Australia, Feb. 2. — Despatches received 
here show that business was entirely suspended throughout the 




PARLIAMENT HOUSE, OTTAWA. 

colony to-day. Train traffic ceased simultaneously for ten 
minutes." 

" Kingston, Jamaica, Feb. 2. — A state service was held here 
simultaneously with the Queen's funeral in England. Thousands 
of people attended." 

" Hamilton, Island of Bermuda, Feb. 2 — The memorial 
service in the Cathedral to-day was an imposing function. Several 
American clergymen participated and the United States Consul 
had a prominent place among the officials." 

"Paris, Feb. 2. — Flags draped with crepe floated from the 
Ely see and public buildings to-day and every English place 



MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES. 429 

of business was closed on account of the funeral of Queen 
Victoria. At ii o'clock tlie of&cial services in the English church 
in the Rue d'Aguesseau were held in the exact form of the ser- 
vices in St. Paul's, London. M. Combariu represented President 
Loubet. Madame Loubet was also present, as well as most of the 
members of the Ministry, United States Ambassador Porter and 
Mrs. Porter and most of the diplomatic corps. This afternoon at 
5 o'clock services were held in the American church in the Ave- 
nue de I'Alma for the American colony." 

"Berlin, Feb. 2. — Memorial services for Queen Victoria were 
held to-day in many towns of the Empire. The service at Horn- 
burg was attended by the Empress of Germany, the hereditary 
Prince of Saxe-Meinengen, the Crown Princes of Greece and 
Princess Frederick of Hesse. At Munich the Prince Regent of 
Bavaria and other princes and princesses attended a service, and 
at Kiel eighty-one guns were fired by the warships." 

SERVICES IN ROME, 

"Rome, Feb. 2. — At the English Church of All Saints ser- 
vices, to-day, the Marquis Visconti-Venosta, the Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, represented the King and Ministry. A delega- 
tion from the Senate and Chamber of Deputies and the Diplo- 
matic Corps v/ere present with the English colony." 

"The Hague, Feb. 2. — Representatives of the Queen and 
Queen mother, the diplomatic corps, and the members of the 
British colony, attended a service of the English church to-day." 

" Manila, Feb. 2. — The obsequies of Queen Victoria were 
attended by the military, the civil of&cers and the public. Much 
private business was suspended and salutes were fired at 
intervals." 

The shadow of a very real grief lay over Washington on the 
day of the Queen's funeral. The sound of the muffled drums and 
solemn knells of mourning Britain were echoed in the hearts of 
sympathetic Americans here in Washington. At every staft the 
flag drooped half-masted and on almost every citizen was some 
little badge of woe. Had some great American crossed the mys- 



430 MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES. 

terious bourne signs of public grief could not bave been more 
manifest. Without ostentation, silently, respectfully, the wbole 
populace mourned. 

At the quaint old Cburcb of St. John's, on the northern side 
of Lafayette Square, the prayer house of eight Presidents, the 
of&cial church of the British Ambassador, this general grief was 
crystallized into a memorial service for the dead Queen Victoria. 
Long before the service was timed to begin a crowd of women in 
black and men in mourning gathered on the church steps in the 
bright, frosty morning. 

By half-past ten a couple of hundred stood there, in each 
hand the black edged card of invitation. Out on the sunny road- 
way scores more paced to and fro awaiting the doors' opening. 
Now and then a carriage drew up, with its gold laced members 
of an embassy, but few alighted thus early, and the carriages 
were ordered to drive on around the square. 

A DISTINGUISHED COMPANY. 

About a quarter before eleven the doors were thrown open to 
the ticket holders, and at once every corner of the building, save 
the pews reserved for the Diplomatic Corps, was filled with a 
notable congregation. In the body of the church were many 
women gowned in heavy black. To their left across the aisle were 
the empty seats for the Ambassadors and Ministers. The long 
pew in front was kept for the President of the United States, his- 
Cabinet and Lord Pauncefote. 

The altar rail and pillars were draped in purple, and in great 
vases stood bunches of calla lilies and palm leaves. Elsewhere 
about the church were other bunches of lilies, relieving with their 
white purity the dusty decorations that still survived from 
Christmas. 

With the public arrived the Minister of Switzerland and the 
junior members of the British Embassy in court uniform. After 
them in quick succession came a long stream of Ambassadors, 
Ministers and members of legations — a glittering crowd in gold 
and lace and flashing orders. The first of the Ambassadors to 



MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES. 481 

arrive was Baron de Fava, of Italy. He was shown to his seat in 
the front pew to the left of the aisle facing the altar, where he 
was speedily joined by Herr von Holleben, the German Ambas- 
sador. Behind these sat Count Cassini, the Ambassador of 
Russia, and M. Jules Cambon, the Ambassador of France. Alone 
in the third pew sat Senor Don Manuel de Azpiroz, the Ambas- 
sador of Mexico. 

Back from the Ambassadors were ranged the Ministers of 
Austria-Hungary, Spain, the Netherlands and Turkey. Mr. Grip, 
the Minister of Sweden and Norway, covered his court uniform 
with a heavy fur mantle as a precaution against draughts, and 
near him were the Ministers of Belgium, Denmark, Japan and 
Siam. Wu Ting-fang, the Minister of China, sat next the Por- 
tugese Minister, Viscount de Santo-Thyrso. 

BRILLIANT UNIFORMS AND TRAPPINGS. 

In the centre of the church. General Isaac Khan, the Persian 
Minister, was remarkable for his astrakhan cap and the glittering 
profusion of his orders. Near him were grouped the new Minis- 
ter Resident of Uruguay, the Minister of Hayti, and the repre- 
sentatives of the South American republics. All these with their 
suites made up a notable blaze of color in the body of the 
church that vied with the stained glass windows in brilliancy and 
relieved the black monotony of the women mourners. 

Promptly at eleven o'clock Lord Pauncefote in his heavily 
laced uniform with the broad scarlet sash of his rank hung over 
his shoulder, received President McKinley at the doorway and 
accompanied him to his seat at the right hand of the foremost pew. 

Out from the gilded magnificence of his military and naval 
staffs, out from the flashing brilliancy of the diplomats who 
rose to receive him, Mr. McKinley stood alone in the simple 
dignity of his black overcoat and black sailor knot tie. Amid all 
the pomp and splendor of foreign courts he was the most dis- 
tinguished man in the assemblage. 

With the President entered Secretary of State Hay, and 
next them, in the foremost pew, sat Secretary of War Root and 



432 MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES. 

Secretary of tlie Treasury Gage. Behind these sat Secretary of 
the Navy Long, Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock and Secre- 
tary of Agriculture Wilson. In the third row sat Chief Justice 
Fuller and Justice Harlan, of the Supreme Court. Further back 
were other Justices of the Supreme Court, and then came Admiral 
Dewey, with his staff, and behind him General Miles and Adju- 
tant General Corbin. Accompanying these were all of the chief 
of&cers of the army quartered in Washington and the head- 
quarters staff. 

When the President had been seated and Lord Pauncefote 
had reached his place beside Lady Pauncefote and the Misses 
Pauncefote, the organ broke forth into the low wail of Chopin's 
"Marche Funebre," accompanied by the harp. Above, from the 
belfry, the slow toll of the bell that knelled Garfield and Lincoln 
could be heard at half minute intervals, and the church settled 
down to its sad ceremonial. 

HEADS BOWED IN REVERENCE. 

On the steps and in the galleries, during the assembling of 
the diplomatists, there had been some inclination to chatter, to 
discuss the arrivals and to view the whole ceremony as something 
of a pageant — the mere memorial service for a dead queen. As 
the wild grief of the funeral march sobbed through the church 
all this was silenced. It was no longer the death of a queen they 
solemnized, but the whole congregation gathered in reverence 
round the open grave of a good woman and mixed their grief 
with the sorrowing nation over seas. 

It was a very simple service. Its note was most truly caught 
in the Queen's favorite hymn, "Peace, Perfect Peace," and over 
everything the feeling was that of a tired and weary spirit taken 
into rest. 

The rector, the Rev. Dr. Alexander MacKay-Smith, con- 
ducted the usual services for the dead, assisted by the Rev. Dr. 
McKim, and Bishop Satterlee preached solemnly and feelingly. 

" England has had many illustrious sovereigns," said Bishop 
Satterlee in his address, "but where among them all do we find 



MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES. 433 

anotlier whose reign has been such an inspiration to all that was 
noble and true in the hearts of the nation, or one who was so lov- 
ingly just as that gracious and beloved British sovereign whose 
burial we are solemnizing this day ?" 

The choir of St. John's Church rendered the musical part of 
the service, which consisted of one anthem and the hj^mns "Lead 
Kindly Light," *' Peace, Perfect Peace," and "Jerusalem the 
Golden." A few minutes after 12 o'clock President McKinle}^ 
led the congregation out of church, accompanied to his carriage 
by Lord Pauncefote, and after them filed all the others out to the 
street and the sunshine. Nowhere on the earth's surface was a 
truer, more heartfelt tribute paid the dead Queen Victoria than 
in the capital of the United States. 

AT TRINITY CHURCH, NEW YORK. 

When the organ pealed forth the first strains of Chopin's 
funeral march in the opening voluntary at Trinity Church > New 
York, at the Queen's memorial service, there was not an unoccu- 
pied seat in the church, and the aisles and the space between the 
main doors and pews were crowded with men and women. Major 
General Brooke, commanding the Department of the East, and his 
staff occupied the front piew on the left of the main aisle, opposite 
the one occupied by Sir Percy Sanderson and his staff. They 
were in full dress uniform. Among others present were Admiral 
Barker and Andrew Carnegie. 

The Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix, rector, led in the processional. 
Among the officiating clergymen were the Most Rev. John T. 
Lewis, Archbishop of Ontario and Metropolitan ; Bishop Worth- 
ington, of Nebraska; Rev. Parker Morgan, D.D., andRev. E. Wal- 
pole Warren. The lesson was read by the Rev. Parker Morgan, 
rector of the Church of the Heavenly Rest. The Apostles' Creed 
and the prayers were chanted by the Rev. E. Walpole Warren. 
The closing prayers were offered by the Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix. 
The Archbishop of Ontario and Metropolitan pronounced the 
benediction. 

St. Paul's Chapel was crowded to the doors in the afternoon 

28 



434 MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES. 

at a special service in memory of the Queen, which was held in 
order to accommodate the great number of persons who were 
unable to gain admittance to Trinity. The Rev. W. Montague 
Geer, the vicar of the chapel, read the Episcopal ritual for the 
burial of the dead, with the exception of the committal. 

Services in commemoration of Queen Victoria were held in 
the Church of the Heavenly Rest under the auspices of the 
British Schools and Universities Club of New York. Six thou- 
sand persons crowded into the edifice, which was draped with 
royal purple, while the pulpit was adorned with the Union Jack 
and the lectern clothed with the Stars and Stripes. Hanging 
over the auditorium were the flags of the United States, Australia, 
Scotland, England, Ireland and Canada. Seated in a body, with 
their president, Dr. John A. Irwin, were the members of the club, 
numbering 150 persons. The principal address was given by the 
Rev. B. Walpole Warren, D. D. rector of St. James's parish. 

CHARACTER OF VICTORIA. 

Andrew Carnegie spoke in Carnegie Hall Sunday afternoon, 
February 3d, upon "The Moral Character of Queen Victoria." 
"One of the important traits," said Mr. Carnegie, "of Queen 
Victoria was her large, liberal, and generous toleration of all sects. 
Queen Victoria kept her court pure. The chief jewel in her 
dower was purity. No scandal or loose living was ever tolerated 
there." 

Mr. Carnegie went on to say that her unvarying kindness to 
every one, and expecially to the humblest servants, was one of her 
strongest traits. He said she once had a man 'servant by the 
name of John Brown. He was one of those remarkable men, who 
would have made his mark in any line of work, and stood very 
close to the Queen. When he died she had the following inscrip- 
tion put on a tablet above his grave : 

" A tribute of loving, grateful, and everlasting friendship 
from his truest, best, and most grateful friend, Victoria." 

"If we all treated our servants in that light," commented 
Mr. Carnegie, " I think there would be less to say in regard to 



Memorial services and tributes. 435 

the domestic problem in this country." After Mr. Carnegie's 
address, Edwin Markham read a poem upon the Queen. 

EDWIN MARKHAM'S TRIBUTE TO THE QUEEN. 

Homage and hush of heart belong to death, 

When at the door the dread one entereth. 

The courteous departure of the soul 

To seek its high imperishable goal, 

The still withdrawal of that inward thing 

That gives the shapen clay the auricle. 

Sends on all hearts the ancient wondering. 

And so a stillness falls across the day, 

Now that the Queen has pushed aside the crown. 

And with no heralds telhng her renown, 

Has gone the august unattended way — 

Gone down the way where all of earth recedes. 

Leaving behind a fragrance of good deeds, 

A wreath of memories forever green 

Above her name, mother and friend and Queen. 

Whatever fortune comes to shape events 

She carried in her heart the good intent, 

And surely, too, since that far fragrant hour. 

When first the boughs of Eden broke to flower. 

Nothing has shined more Kingly than good deeds. 

Lo, out of these the golden Heaven proceeds. 

The memory of good deeds will ever stay, 

A lamp to light us on the darkened way, 

A music to the ear on clamoring street, 

A cooling well amid the noonday heat, 

A scent of green boughs blown through narrow walls. 

A feel of rest when quiet evening falls. 

The kindly deed will live in memory 

When London in far centuries shall be 

As still as Babylon and both a-dream — 

When London dead shall be some poet's theme — 

When all her tombs and towers shall be a flight 

Of ghostly arches in the noiseless night. 



.i36 MEMORIAL SERVICES AND TRIBUTES, 

Then as some bard on legends borne along 
Shall build her faded glories into song, 
Some Homer sing her darings and defeats, 
Filling with crowds again the grass-grown streets, 
Placing dead kings back on their crumbled seats, 
There suddenly will sweep into his rhyme 
Victoria's name long lavendered by Time, 
And all the poet heart of him will stir 
At some small heart- warm chronicles of her. 
The obscure whisper of some kindly deed 
Of this dead Queen, her quick reply to need : 
And lo, his song will brighten and will shine 
As though a star should break along the line. 
Greater than any king with wolfish hordes 
That ever climbed the pathway of the swords, 
Was this Queen-mother, gracious, gentle, good, 
A white fair flower of Christian womanhood. 
Her banners felt the wind of every sea, 
And yet she held a wider realm in fee, 
The pure high kingdom of the womanly. 
Peace to her spirit as the years increase — 
Peace, for her last great passion was for peace. 

O God of nations, on the darlc of things. 

Send down the white fire of the King of Kings, 

Until all rulers shall be lifted up 

To drink with common man the equal cup. 

Send wisdom upon nations, and send down 

On kings the deeper meaning of the crown. 

Come, God of Kings and peoples, breathe on men 

Till love's heroic ages flower again. 

SIGNATURE OF THE QUEEN. 




PART II. 

King Edward VIL 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

The New King Proclaimed. 

^^CDWARD VII., King of Great Britain and Ireland and 
^ Emperor of India, Defender of the Faith;" was formalh^ 
proclaimed at Temple Bar, on St. Paul's Cathedral steps and at 
the Royal Exchange, London, on Wednesday, January 23, 1901. 
The Privy Council met in St. James' Palace at 2 o'clock in the 
afternoon for the purpose of signing the accession proclama- 
tion of Edward VII. The attendance at the meeting of the 
Council was more than 200. 

The Duke of Devonshire read the proclamation. The Duke 
of York first signed it, then the Duke of Counaught, the Prince 
Christian, the Duke of Cambridge, the Queen consort, the Duke 
and Duchess of York, and all the royal familv. 

King Edward then took the oath. This is the oath with 
which Edward VII. assumed government over the Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland and all its dominions : 

Lord Chancellor — Is your Majesty willing to take the oath ? 

The King — I am. 

Lord Chancellor — Will you soleuml}^ promise and swear to 
govern the people of this United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
Ireland and the dominions thereto belonging, according to the 
statutes in Parliament agreed on and the respective laws and 
customs of the same ? 

The King — I solemnly promise so to do. 

Lord Chancellor — Will you to the utmost of your power 
cause law and justice in mercy to be expected in all your 
judgments ? 

The King — I will. 

437 



438 THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED. 

Lord Cliancellor — Will you to the utmost of your power 
maintain the laws of God, the true profession of the Gospel and 
the Protestant Reformed religion established by law, and will you 
maintain and preserve inviolably the settlement of the United 
Church of Bngland and Ireland and the doctrine, worship, disci- 
pline and government thereof as by law established with Bngland 
and Ireland and the territories thereunto belonging, and will you 
preserve unto the Bishops and clergy of England and Ireland and 
to the churches there committed to their charge all such rights 
and privileges as by law do or shall appertain to them or any of 
them ? 

The King — All this I promise to do. 

After the oath of office had been administered to the new 
monarch he was duly proclaimed Kiug, The council lasted an 
hour, during which the ministers gave up their seals of office, 
which the King immediately returned to them. 

DUKES AND LORDS OF THE COUNCIL. 

The King at first was in a separate room from the privy 
councillors. The Duke of Devonshire, Lord President of the 
Council, formally announced the death of the Queen. The royal 
Dukes and some Lords of the Council then repaired to the King's 
presence and acquainted him with the Duke's announcement. 

The King's speech was made with great earnestness and was 
entirely extemporaneous. He said : 

"I have decided to assume the title of Bdward VII. in 
accordance with the wishes of my beloved mother, who united 
the virtues of supreme, domestic good with the affection and 
patriotism of a wise and peace loving monarch. I have the respect- 
ful desire to leave the memory of my father's name, Albert, the 
exclusive treasure of my beloved mother. 

" Notwithstanding my personal desire I cannot hope to do 
justice to the renown and virtues associated with Prince Albert's 
name. I shall do the utmost to be worthy of my great position." 

At 4.30 p. m. a royal salute of twenty-one guns was fired in 
St. James' Park. 



THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED. 439 

In the House of Commons there was a full attendance. 
Speaker William Court Gully, after taking the chair, said : 

" I would remind the House that b};^ reason of the deeply 
lamented decease of her late Majest}^ Queen Victoria it has now 
become our dut}^ to take the oath of allegiance to her successor. 
King Edward VH. I will, according to ciistom, take the oath 
myself first and then invite the members to come to the table 
and take it." 

The Speaker then took the oath in the following form : " I, 
William Court Gully, do swear that I will be faithful and bear 
allegiance to His Majesty, King Edward VII., his heirs and suc- 
cessors, according to the law, so help me God." 

In the House of Lords a similar ceremony was performed. 
Lord Kimberly and the Archbishop of Canterbury were the first 
to be sworn after the Lord Chancellor. 

Both houses of Parliament received identical messages from 
the King, and voted condolence with His Majesty on his bereave- 
ment and congratulation on his accession to the throne. 

MESSAGE FROM THE KING. 

The Lord Chancellor, Lord Halsbury, and the Speaker, Mr. 
William Court Gully, read the following message in their 
respective houses : 

"The King is fully assured that the House of Commons 
will share the deep sorrow which has befallen His Majesty and 
the nation by the lamentable death of his mother, the late Queen, 
Her devotion to the welfare of her country and her people and 
her wise and beneficent rule during the sixty-four years of her 
glorious reign will ever be held in affectionate memory by her 
loyal and devoted subjects throughout the dominions of the 
British Empire." 

In the House of Commons, Mr. A. J. Balfour, First Lord of 
the Treasury, and government leader, in moving the address in 
reply to the message, said the House in all its long History had 
never met under sadder circumstances or with a clearer duty to 
express the universal sorrow extending from end to end of the 



440 THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED. 

empire. In the wliole history of the British monarchy there had 
never been a case in which the national grief had been so deeply 
seated. The end of a great epoch had come, an epoch more 
crowded with important changes and great developments than 
any period of like length in the history of the world. 

The influence of the Crown in the British constitution was 
not a diminishing but an increasing factor, and must continue to 
increase with the growth and development of the self-governing 
communities over the sea, which were founded by Great Britain, 
through the person of the sovereign, who was a living symbol of 
the unity of the empire. In moving a double response of con- 
dolence and congratulation, Mr. Balfour said they all had unfail- 
ing confidence that the great interests committed to the new sov- 
reign were safe in his keeping. 

LORD SALISBURY'S PATHETIC SPEECH. 

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the liberal leader, seconded 
the motion, which was adopted, the members standing. The 
House then adjourned until February 14th. 

In the House of lyords Lord Salisbury moved the reply to the 
King's message in a speech full of emotion. He said that, in per- 
forming the saddest duty that had ever befallen him, he was only 
echoing the accents of sorrow, deeper than he had ever seen, of 
this nation, which had been called forth by the singular loss 
which, under the dispensation of Providence, they had suffered, 
and their admiration of the glorious reign and splendid character 
of the sovereign they had lost. 

Being a constitutional monarch, with restricted powers, she 
had reigned by sheer force of character, by the lovableness of her 
disposition, and by her hold on the hearts of her subjects. The 
example which she set of governing by esteem and love would 
never be forgotten, nor how much she assisted in the elevation of 
her people by their simple contemplation of her brilliant qualities 
as wife, mother and woman. 

She always maintained a rigorous supervision over public 
affairs, giving her Ministers the benefit of her advice and warn- 



THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED. 441 

ing thein of dangers. No Minister could disregard her views, or 
press her to disregard them, without feeling he had incurred a 
great danger. She had brought the country peacefully through 
a great change, from old to new England. She possessed extra- 
ordinary knowledge of what the people would think. He had 
always said that when he knew what the Queen thought, he 
knew for a certainty what her subjects would think, especially 
the middle classes. 

The King came to the throne with the one great advantage 
of having before him the greatest example possible. 

Lord Kimberley, the liberal leader in the House of Lords, 
and the Archbishop of Canterbury seconded the address. 

THE QUEEN'S UNUSUAL REQUEST. 

Lord Salisbury was looking exceedingly well when he rose 
to make his speech, in a clear and impressive style. No poli- 
tician in England has ever seen so much of the Queen as this 
grand old statesmen, with leonine head and massive face. Only 
two weeks before the Queen, being solicitous about his health, 
insisted that he should sit in her presence, because she had 
heard that it was bad for him to stand. Her late Majesty had 
also insisted that he should bring one of his sons down with him 
to Osborne to keep him company. 

What he told of the influence which the Queen had over 
him and her Council of Ministers was listened to in the crowded 
House with breathless interest, for all felt that what Lord Salis 
bury could tell no one else had hitherto known. Thus, in simple 
words, told with simple manner, the Prime Minister was intensely- 
interesting. It was the story of the inner influence of the Queeu 
upon public matters, which had always been guessed, but never 
absolutely known until Lord Salisbury told it. In telling of her 
intuitive knowledge of her people. Lord Salisbury caused a flutter 
of emotion throughout the House — a house which is known for 
its coldness of demeanor. For, as the rugged helmsman of the 
British Government expressed it, when his intuition failed him 
as regards the best way to act he had but to go to the Queen, 



442 THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED. 

SHe liad always had an absolutely accurate instinctive knowledge 
of what the people of England would approve. In that she was 
stronger than all her Ministers, and as he told this Lord Salis- 
bury's voice over and over again was broken with emotion, for he 
spoke as it rarely comes to the lot of a statesman to speak, and 
it was apparent to all present that he spoke directly from his 
heart of one whom he loved reverently. 

In the upper house the feature was the great show of bishops, 
■ fourteen of them in their white lawn full sleeves, contrasting 
strongly vi^ith the rest of the occupants of the house. The effect 
of the ladies all in black, especially the long line of black hats 
and bonnets, most of which were decorated with aigrettes or black 
feathers, gave an appearance of awful solemnity in the house, 
which at the best is only very dimly lighted. 

QUAINT OLD CUSTOMS. 

London was given a glimpse of mediaeval times on January 
24th. The quaint ceremonies with which King Edward VII. was 
proclaimed at various points of the metropolis exactly followed 
ancient precedents. The of&cials purposely arranged the func- 
tion an hour ahead of the published announcement, and the inhabi- 
tants, when they awoke, were surprised to find the entire space 
between St. James's Palace and the city lined with troops. 
About 10,000 soldiers. Life Guards, Horse Guards, Foot Guards 
and other cavalry and infantry regiments, had been brought from 
Aldersliot and London Barracks after midnight. 

All the officers had crape on their arms, and the drums and 
brass instruments were shrouded with crape. The troops made 
an imposing spectacle, but they were entirely eclipsed by the 
strange spectacle presented by the officials of the College of Arms. 

The ceremony began at St. James's Palace, where at 9 o'clock 
Edward VII. was proclaimed King of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India. The proclama- 
tion, which was read by William Henry Weldon, King-at-Arms 
since 1894, and formerly Windsor Herald, was as follows : 

■'Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to call to His mercy 



THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED. 443 

our late sovereign, Lady Queen Victoria of blessed and glorious 
memory, by whose decease the imperial crown of tbe United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is solely and rigbtfully 
come to the bigli and mighty Prince Albert Edward, we, there- 
fore, the Lords spiritual and temporal of this realm, being here 
assisted with these of her late Majesty's Privy Council, with num- 
bers of other principle gentlemen of quality, with the Lord Mayor, 
Aldermen and citizens of London, do now hereby with one voice 
consent with tongue and heart to publish and proclaim that the 
high and mighty Prince Albert Edward is now, by the death of 
our late sovereign of happy memory, become our only lawful and 
rightful liege Lord, Edward VII., by the grace of God King of 
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of 
the faith. Emperor of India, to whom we acknowledge all faith 
and constant obedience with all hearty and humble affection, 
beseeching God, by whom all Kings and Queens do reign, to bless 
the royal Prince Edward VII. with long and happy years to reign 



EARL ROBERTS AND HIS STAFF. 

The King was not present. There was a large assemblage 
of officials and college heralds. Among those in attendance Avere 
Earl Roberts and members of the Headquarters Staff and other 
army officers. There was a great concourse of people from the 
commencement to the close. 

The proclamation was greeted by a fanfare of trumpets. At 
the conclusion of the ceremony the band belonging to the Foot 
Guards in the Friary Court played " God Save the King." The 
members of the King's household witnessed the ceremony from 
Marlborough House. On the balcony, overlooking the Friary 
Court, from which the proclamation was read, were the Duke of 
Norfolk and other officers of State. 

The balcony was draped in crimson cloth. Beside the 
officials in resplendent uniforms were stationed the trumpeters. 
Here were seen many prominent persons, among them Sir Henry 
Arthur White, Private Solicitor to the Queen, 



444 THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED. 

In the yard of Marlborough House and the Friary Court 
were stationed a large body of police, soldiers and Foot Guards. 
The Foot Guards acted as a guard of honor, and they were 
posted immediately beneath the balcony. The spectators began 
to assemble at an early hou.r. 

The troops arrived at 8 o'clock, and shortly before 9 o'clock 

in the morning a brilliant cavalcade passed down the Mall and 

entered Friary Court. It consisted of the Headquarters Staff, 

headed by the Commander-in-Chief of the forces, Karl Roberts, 

in full uniform, and carryiug a marshal's baton, and Sir Evelyn 

Wood, the Adjutant General. At 9 o'clock the court dignitaries, 

headed by the Duke of Norfolk, appeared on the balcony. Then 

the heralds blew a fanfare and King-at-Arms Weldon, in the 

midst of dead silence, read the proclamation. All heads were 

bared 

THE CROWD GAVE A SHOUT. 

As the reading was concluded, the King-at-Arnis, raising his 
three cornered hat, cried loudly, " God save tlie King ! " The 
crowd took up the cry, while the cheers, the fanfares of the 
trumpets and the band playing a national anthem made a curious 
medley. King-at-Arms Weldon read the proclamation in clear 
tones, which were distinctly heard at a great distance. The third 
fanfare of trumpets ended the ceremony. 

The officials then marched in procession from the balcony, 
through the palace, to the Ambassador's Court, where a number 
of royal carriages had been placed, by the direction of the King, 
at the disposal of the Barl-Marshal. These took the officials 
who read the proclamation to the city, and, escorted by a detach- 
ment of Horse Guards, formed a picturesque and gorgeous 
procession. 

The contingent from the College of Arms was composed of 
three kings-at-arms, four heralds and eight pursuivants. The 
costumes of the two latter were gorgeous beyond compare. They 
wore tabards, a garment resembling the costume of kings as 
depicted on playing cards. These tabards were beautifully and 
heavily embroidered with silk lions, the royal coat-of arms and 



THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED. 445 

flowers in bewildering confusion. There was the rouge dragon, 
the blue mantle and the maltravers, with all the armorial bear- 
ings of that quaint old body, the College of Arms, in full and 
solemn arra}^ 

A blare of trumpets announced the progress of the cavalcade 
as it proceeded through the Trafalgar Square and the Strand. 

The chief interest centered in the entrance of the heralds' 
procession into the city at Temple Bar. The gray minarets of 
the law courts and the tall spires of the Strand churches loomed, 
phantomlike, out of the fog, while a long, double line of over- 
coated troops stood, chilled and motionless, along the half 
deserted streets. 

THE LORD MAYOR'S PROCESSION. 

The clocks in the law courts and St. Dunstan's tolled out 
mournfully the quarter hours till 9.15, when, out of the gray 
mist from within the city boundary, appeared a procession of 
carriages forming the Lord Mayor's entourage. 

It was there that the two processions were to merge in kalei- 
doscopic grandeur. The Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, Aldermen and 
mace-bearers, in scarlet, fur trimmed robes, cocked hats, rufiled 
shirts, silk knee breeches aud low buckled shoes, peered out from 
the Cinderella-like coaches that would have been the envy of Alice 
in Wonderland. 

Overhead, in the midst of the pageant, the great Griffin 
which marks the city boundary spread its wide, fantastic wings, 
like some great Hindoo god. In their gold liveries the white 
wigged coachmen of the Lord Mayor looked down contemptuously 
upon soldier, herald and peer. In the olden days a veritable bar 
or gate separated the city from without. To-day ten strong 
policemen stretched a red silken rope across the thoroughfare in 
honor of the city's ancient privileges. 

As the clock struck the time the officer in command of the 
troops cried " Attention ! " The rifle stocks came down with a 
click upon the asphalt pavement, and two gold laced trumpeters 
appeared at the Griffin's side. The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, 



446 THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED. 

mace-bearers, cliaplain, remembrancer and tbe white wigged 
Judges of the city courts left their carriages and grouped them- 
selves together between the lines of drawn tip troops. 

Then the City Marshal, who was on horseback, wearing a 
uniform of scarlet, gold laced, with scarlet plumes, rode up to 
the barrier, and the Norrow King of Arms, whose green and gold 
tabard outshone those of his colleagues, appeared at the imagi- 
nary bar. His trumpeter blew a shrill blast, which the Lord 
Mayor's trumpeters answered, and then the City Marshal rode up 
to the barrier and demanded, " Who goes there? " 

The Norrow King of Arms replied that it was the King's 
herald, come to read a proclamation. " Bnter herald," said the 
Marshal, and the herald was conducted to the Lord Mayor and 
Aldermen, who were still grouped in the street. 

The herald then read the proclamation, to which the Lord 
Mayor and Aldermen replied : " We, with one voice, consent, 
tongue and heart, pledge allegiance to King Bdward VII." 

RESOUNDING TRUMPETS. 

The trumpeters blew a blast while the wondering crowd 
stood bareheaded and silenced, not knowing what to do, till a 
military band in the procession struck up " God Save the King." 
This familiar air has still but one meaning in England, and the 
crowd took up the words feebly, with " God Save the King" on 
the tongue, but with " God Save the Queen" in mind. 

A few streets further on the proclamation was read again, and 
the procession advanced, by way of Lndgate Hill, to the Royal 
exchange. The final proclamation was made in front of the Royal 
Exchange. The square before the Exchange, with the prison- 
like walls of the Bank of England on one side and the massive 
ofi&cial residence of the Lord Mayor on the other, was a stage 
setting whose age and solidity befitted the portentous ceremony. 
There were no decorations except flags, all half masted, save the 
city's red cross on a white field over the Mansion House. 

The royal standard hung above the Exchange, and over the 
surrounding business buildings flew the union jack. Black was 



THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED. 447 

the universal color worn by tlie people. Hardly a bright bon- 
net or gown relieved the sombreneSvS of the crowd. Soldiers and 
policemen formed an almost solid lane down Cheapside, where 
the pageant was to pass. The people behind, crowding for a sight 
over their shoulders, were of all classes, from prosperous brokers 
to East End costers. 

The mass was subdued and remarkably orderly, an impres- 
sive contrast to the usual London holida}^ crowd. The roofs of 
tlie Exchange, Bank and Mansion House and all the windows 
and balconies overlooking the scene were filled with solid rows of 
people. Big policemen kept a clear space in front of the 
Exchange. 

At about lo o'clock the procession, which was disappoint- 
ingly short, though gorgeous, swept down from the Temple Bar 
at a rapid pace, and was received silently. The officials entered 
the Exchange by Cornhill and appeared on the top steps, the 
Lord Ma3^or, with the sword bearer, leading, Sheriffs, Aldermen, 
Recorder and City Marshal, following. 

"HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD VII." 

A flourish of trumpe-ts impressed silence upon the crowds, and 
the Lord Mayor, uncovering, stepped forward. All hats came off 
and the men remained bareheaded throughout the ceremony, 
under the misty rain, for nearly half an hour. The Lord Mayor's 
voice was strong and his oratorical words were distinguishable a 
block away while he read the warrant of the Privy Council to the 
herald. Thereupon the spectacularly attired herald, bareheaded 
also, for the third time delivered the proclamation. Probably no 
one fifty feet distant heard his words until, at the ending, he 
raised his voice and shouted : " God save the King !" putting 
particular stress on the words. 

When the Lord Mayor finished reading the warrant with the 
words "His Majesty King Edward VII. " the crowd, for the first 
time, cheered feebly, but without unison, seeming to feel that too 
great a display of enthusiam for the King might appear to par- 
take of disloyalty to the memory of the departed Queen. It was 



448 THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED. 

only when tHe herald shouted "God save the King!" that the 
populace responded heartil}'- with cheers, many people echoing 
the shouts of " God save the King ! " and waving- their hats. 

The Lord Mayor, in the meantime, proceeded to the Mansion 
House, stepped out on the upper balcony and said, in ringing 
tones : "Join in singing from the bottom of your hearts, ' God 
Save the King ' " 

The response was uncertain at first, for the people present 
feared to undertake the unfamiliar words, until the Common 
Sergeant (legal adviser of the Corporation) led off, whereupon 
hundreds joined in. This was repeated three times, each time 
hundreds more taking up the singing, until it became a mighty 
roar. Then came more cheers for the King and for the Queen 
Consort, hearty but solemn and of a vastly different sort from 
the shouts heard for Queen Victoria's jubilee. There was an 
undertone of mourning. 

DRINKING THE KING'S HEALTH. 

Then the Life Guards and of&cials from the West End 
moved away, and the crowd broke up. The city officers gathered 
about a table in the Mansion House and raised their glasses, 
drinking the health of King Edward VII., who had been pro- 
claimed King according to the ancient ritual. 

The instruction that the Duke of York is to be named in the 
Prayer Book "Duke of Cornwall," seems to throw light upon the 
much debated question of the heir apparent' s title. It was sup- 
posed that the title "Prince of Wales," which belongs only to a 
son born of the King, would be conferred upon the Duke of York 
by royal patent; but the "Gazette" announcement seems to 
indicate that this will not be done, and that the Duke of York 
will henceforth be known as the Duke of Cornwall. 

King Edward VII. has been proclaimed in many cities and 
towns of the United Kingdom, the usual procedure being that the 
Mayor, attended by the other members of the corporation, has 
read the proclamation in the Town Hall or market place. In 
Dublin uniformed heralds proclaimed Edward VII. at one of the 



THE NEW KING PROCLAIMED. 449 

castle gates, in the presence of tlie Lord Lieutenant, Earl Cado- 
gau, and tlie Irish Privy Council. 

The ceremony of proclaiming the new King in Dublin was 
highly interesting. Earl Cadogan, the Lord Lieutenant, first 
proclaimed Edward VII. at a full meeting of the Irish Privy 
Council. Then, at 4 o'clock P. M., a procession was formed, 
headed by the Lord Mayor, which issued from a gate of the 
upper castle and took up a position on the west side of Cork Hill, 
where a great concourse had gathered to witness the spectacle. 

Athlone Pursuivant in full regalia, mounted and attended by 
an escort of Lancers, preceded Ulster King of Arms, mounted and 
Avearing a brilliant uniform. Then the Lord Lieutenant, with 
several aides, rode out of the gates. The band played "God Save 
the King." Athlone Pursuivant cried, "Oyez, Oyez," and com- 
manded silence. A fanfare was sounded. Then Ulster King at 
Arms read the proclamation. Cheers were giveu for the King, 
and "God Save the King" was played. 

"GOD SAVE THE KING"— New National Anthem for Britons. 

God save our gracious King, 

Long live our noble King, "^ 

God save the King. 

Send him victorious, 

Happy and glorious, 

Long to reign over us. 

God save the King. 

O Lord our God arise, 

Scatter his enemies 

And make them fall ; 

Confound their politics, : 

Frustrate their knavish tricks ; 

On him our hopes we fix. 

God save us all. 

Thy choicest gifts in store 

On him be pleased to pour, 

Long may he reign. 

May he defend our laws 

And ever give us cause 

To sing with heart and voice, 

God save the Kins' ! 
29 ^ 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Life of King Edward. 

A LBBRT BDWARD, known for more than lialf a century as 
-'*■ the Prince of Wales, and now summoned to the throne of the 
mightiest empire in all history, over which he will reign as Edward 
VII, was born on November 9, 1841. The second child and the 
eldest son of Queen Victoria, his advent into the world was greeted 
with great rejoicing. As the first child of the royal couple (the 
Empress Dowager of Germany) had proved to be a girl, the British 
nation was naturally anxious that the second should be a boy. 

When a new heir was expected Prince Albert sent his couriers 
in hot haste from Buckingham Palace to the various dignitaries of 
church and state, whose presence at the expected birth of a possi- 
ble crown prince is demanded by royal etiquette. They gathered 
together in the antiroom close by the Queen's bed chamber. 

Among them were archbishops and bishops, arrayed in silk 
hats and gorgeous aprons ; members of the Cabinet, headed by the 
Prime Minister ; nurses and doctors by the score. 

AWAITING THE GREAT EVENT. 

For four hours this motley assemblage awaited the event. 
Their patience was rewarded. When it was announced that the 
hopes and wishes of a nation had been fulfilled and that a boy had 
been born there was universal gratulation. Prelates and states- 
men embraced one another with uncontrolled effusiveness. Cannon 
from the grounds without thundered the news to all the surround- 
ing districts. 

Thousands of church bells took up the glad tidings and pealed 
out the announcement to an expectant nation. Earlj^ in the morn- 
ing the Privy Council met in state to ordain prayer and thanks- 
giving from one end of the country to the other. 

A few weeks later, on the occasion of the Prince's baptism in 

460 



LIFE OF KING EDWARD. 451 

the royal chapel of Windsor, he was shown from the balcon}^ to a 
huge crowd of persons, who went wild with delight. 

The boyhood of the Prince was uneventful. His early educa- 
tion was conducted at home under the tutelage of the Rev. H. M. 
Birch, rector of Prestwich ; Mr. Gibbs, barri5:ter-at-law ; the Rev. 
C. F. Tarver and Mr. H. W. Fisher. He then studied for a season 
at Bdinburg,' and later entered Christ Church, Oxford. Here he 
attended public lectures for a year, and afterward resided for three 
or four terms at Trinity College, Cambridge, for the same purpose. 

His earliest appearance in a leading part on any public occa- 
sion was in 1859 at the la3dng of the foundation stone of the Lam- 
beth School of Art at Vauxhall. After the death of his father in 
December, 1861, he naturally became the most desirable functionary 
at all ceremonies in which beneficent or charitable undertakings 
were to be recognized by royal approval. This work has ever since 
occupied a large share of his time and has always been performed 
with dignity, tact and patience. 

Indeed, no prince of any country has ever personally exerted 
himself more faithfully to render services of this sort to the com- 
munity. The multiplicity and variety of his engagements on 
behalf of local and special enterprises make a surprising list, and 
necessaril}'- involved a sacrifice of ease and leisure which few men 
of high rank would care to make. 

VISIT OF THE PRINCE TO CANADA. 

In the summer of i860 the Prince paid a visit to Canada and 
the United States. Everywhere he was received with boundless 
enthusiasm. He danced at a ball given in his honor at Washings 
ton, where he was cordially welcomed by President Buchanan, The 
' United States, indeed, was prepared to receive him with open arms. 
^ At Hamilton, the last place in Canada where he made a halt, he 
had spoken some kindly word, which awoke general approval here 
in the United States. 

" My duties," he said, " as representative of the Queen ceases 
this day, but in a private capacity I am about to visit before my 
return home that remarkable land which claims with us a common 



452 LIFE OF KING EDWARD. 

ancestr}^ and in whose extraordinary progress every Knglisliman 
feels a common interest." 

His first formal stop on American soil was in Chicago. This 
visit is still fresh in the memory of man}^ old citizens, and some of 
them recall incidents about his brief stay that are of considerable 
interest. The prince, traveling under the name of Baron Renfrew, 
arrived in Chicago from Detroit over the Michigan Central, accom- 
panied by a small suite and Lord Lyons, British minister at Wash- 
ington. A great crowd was assembled at the depot to greet the 

party, and the approaches to the station Avere beautifully decorated. ' 

i 

AN ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 

The Prince was driven to the Richmond House, a well-known 
hotel in early days on Michigan avenue, between Randolph and 
Washington streets, and the whole second floor was set aside for 
his use. On the morning after his arrival a committee consisting 
of Mayor John Went worth, W. B. Ogden, William Bross and B. 
W. McComas visited his apartments and presented him, through 
Lord Lyons, with an address of welcome. 

It contained among other things the following words : 

" As the son of the most admirable of monarchs and the best 
of women, Baron Renfrew challenges our most affectionate and 
kind regards." 

In the afternoon the Prince expressed a desire to drive about 
the city, and Fernando Jones, then a member of the Council, accom- 
panied him in a carriage and did his best to entertain the royal 
visitor. Mr. Jones recalls very plainly his impression of the young 
man who is now Edward VII, King of England. He said : 

" We all saw in him a light-hearted and enthusiastic lad, a 
true specimen of the healthy young Englishman. It did not take 
any of us long to get on a friendly footing with him, for he barrecJ 
all strict forms and insisted on our dropping much of the ceremou}^ 
we had thought fit to adopt in our intercourse with him. During 
the drive I proposed that we go to see the workings of a big grain 
elevator near the entrance to the river. The Prince assented 
eagerly, and in a few minutes we were scrambling to the top. 



LIFE OF KING EDWARD. 453 

'' A small English vessel was being loaded with grain, and to 
commemorate the occasion we arranged that the wheat run into 
the hole while the Prince was there should be sent as a present to 
Queen Victoria. While we were watching operations the Prince 
sidled up to me and said : ' Let us get away from those old fellows 
and watch the work from the other side of the shoot.' John Went- 
worth stood and looked at us as we were shifting places. I could 
see he was getting ready for a speech, and the Prince wanted to 
keep away from it. A minute later the young man stepped onto 
a pile of grain and John called out : ' Hey get your feet off that 
wheat.' 

" Well, sir, the Prince was dumbfounded. I guess he had 
never been spoken to that way before in alibis life. But Went- 
worth immediately remedied his mistake b}^ saying: ' You see 
your royal highness, that grain's intended for your mother. Now, 
she might have a loaf of bread made from that very wheat that 
you've been standing in, and that would be dreadful.' Then we 
all laughed, the prince more heartily than any of us. 

OFF FOR A DAY'S SHOOTING. 

" The next day I accompanied him and his party down to 
Dwight, where they had been invited for a day's shooting by a 
Mr. Morgan, who had a fine place there. The prince had a splen- 
did time, acting like a good-natured boy, full of high spirits and 
anxious to please. He was delighted with the arrang-ements that 
had been made for his day in the woods 

" A fine lunch had been prepared by the host. Game of all 
kinds was on the tables, but when the time to eat came the prince 
was missing. I was sent out to find him, and after wandering 
about two miles I came across him sitting on the ground in an old 
shanty, with a backwoodsman standing beside him. He had found 
the man, struck up an acquaintance and was being initiated into 
the right way to cook prairie chicken. 

"Two birds that the prince had just killed were being broiled 
by this humble expert, who had no idea who his new found friend 
was. I approached and told the prince that we were waiting lunch 



454 LIFE OF KING EDWARD. 

for him, but lie would not come away till tlie birds were cooked and 
he had eaten a little of them. When we were wandering back 
through the woods he told me that he had never enjoyed a bite 
better in his life. 

" Some years later I was at the first great Paris exposition as 
an honorary commissioner from Illinois. The Prince of Wales 
visited the American section one day, and, noticing me, he came 
right up, held out his hand and said: ' Hey get your feet off that 
wheat.' Then he explained the joke to the gentlemen with him 
and gave me all sorts of kinds of kind messages to take back to Mr. 
Wentworth and others who had helped to entertain him in Chicago. 

A ROYAL GOOD FELLOW. 

" I consider the prince a right royal good fellow — a man of 
democratic tastes and one who I believe will make a popular and 
conscientious king." 

From Chicago the Prince passed on to St. Louis, Cincinnati, 
Pittsburg, Baltimore and Washington. For five days he was a 
guest of President Buchanan. He visited Mount Vernon and 
planted a chestnut tree by the side of Washington's tomb. From 
the capital the Prince and his party set out for Richmond, then a 
centre of political agitation, and soon to prove the focus of disaffec- 
tion against the Union. 

His next halt was made at Philadelphia, where he visited 
Independence Hall and other places famous in Anglo-American 
history. From Philadelphia he took sail for New York, landing at 
Castle Garden on October nth. He was driven through Broadway 
to the Fifth Avenue Hotel, escorted by the Mayor and other civic 
dignitaries, and cheered on his way by vast crowds of citizens vvdio 
had gathered to do him honor. 

One feature of the hospitalities tendered him in New York was 
a parade of the Volunteer Fire Department, six thousand men 
strong, each man in uniform, and all save those of the ropes and 
tillers bearing torches. 

It is interesting to note that among the paraders were William 
M. Tweed and Richard Croker. Albany, Boston and Portsmouth, 



LIFE OF KING EDWARD. 455 

N. H., were visited in turn, and from the latter place the Prince 
and his party embarked for England on October 20tli. 

In 1862, accompanied by Dean Stanley, lie made a journey to 
the Bast, including a visit to Jerusalem. The young Prince was 
now of a marriageable age. Speculation was rife as to who would 
be the lady of his choice. The question was settled in the early 
part of 1863, when his engagement was announced to Princess 
Alexandra, the eldest daughter of the King of Denmark. She was 
three years younger than the Prince, and though comparatively 
poor, was beautiful and accomplished. The marriage was celebrated 
in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on March lo, 1863. 

ALEXANDRA'S ENTHQSIASTIC RECEPTION. 

All England rejoiced over the event. Tennyson, the recently 
appointed poet laureate, wrote one of his first poems, '*A Welcome 
to Alexandra," on this occasion. The Princess soon made herself 
very popular with all classes of the British public, not only by her 
outward grace of manner, but also by her virtues and amiability. 
The Prince himself has always shared in this popularity. 

The Prince made his maiden speech in the House of Lords in 
1884. It was in support of a motion in favor of the better housing 
of the poor. He was subsequently one of the commission ap- 
pointed to consider the matter. He is a fervent sportsman, and 
has never been without a string of thoroughbred racing horses. 
Several of them, including Florizel II. and Persimmon, have won 
the Derby. He is as fond of a good dog as of a good horse. His 
kennels at Sandringham are fourteen in number, built of brick and 
iron, with every modern improvement that architects and dog 
fanciers could suggest. 

As a social factor in England the Prince has always been 
supreme. Ward McAllister called him "the great social dictator.'' 
It was largely through his influence that many Americans — a 
nation whom he has always liked — have received their entree into 
the inner circles of the British aristocracy. Nevertheless, the social 
and fashionable side of his life has been more of a duty than a 
pleasure to him. He has always been most content when sur- 



456 



LIFE OF KING EDWARD. 



rounded by a circle of his old friends at Ms palace, in Sandringham, 
a small village in the county of Norfolk. There he has lived the 
life of an English country gentleman. 

The affection and esteem in which the Prince has been held 
was never better exemplified than in December, 1871, when he was 
attacked by typhoid fever, and for some weeks hung between life 
and death. The anxiety of the public was intense, and the news 
of his recovery was greeted with great joy. On his first appear- 
ance in public to take part in the memorable " Thanksgiving ser- 
vice" in St. Paul's Cathedral, on February 27, 1872, the streets 
along the line of his route were crowded with a cheering multi- 
tude. 

He has had five children, the eldest of whom, Albert Victor 
Christian Edward, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, was born 
January 8, 1864, and died in January, 1892. The second son, 
George Frederick Ernest Albert, Duke of York, born June 3, 1865, 
married Princess Mary, of Teck, July 6, 1893. Louise Victoria 
Alexandra Dagmar, born February 20, 1867, married the Duke of 
Fife in 1889. Victoria Alexander Olga Marie was born July 6, 
1868, and Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria, born November 26, 1869, 
married Prince Charles, the second son of the Crown Prince of 
Denmark, on July 22, 1896. 

GRANDEST EMPIRE IN THE W^ORLD. 

The future only can determine the character of the new ruler 
of the British Empire — an empire with an area of nearly 11,000,000 
square miles, and a population of more than 360,000,000. As 
Prince of Wales his life, apparently one of leisure, was circum- 
scribed by customs through the bounds of which even he could not 
break without incurring criticism far harsher than any applied to 
him by his worst detractors. 

As Prince of Wales he was placed by fate in the most difficult 
position of any British subject. Up to man's ripe age he was 
obliged to see the vast distinction between himself and other British 
males of all grades and stations and in every conceivable relation 
of life. The very position that lifted him to his exalted social 



LIFE OF KING EDWARD. 45T 

altitude made him at the same time such a slave to couventionalities 
in both his public and private concerns that his range of inde- 
pendent action was almost incredibly narrow. 

Albert Edward could not figure to any prominent extent in 
politics, for he must not be biased. His nearness to the throne 
prevented him from making any attempt to loosen the sword he 
wore, like his soldier brother, the Duke of Connaught. In fact, 
the general condition of British political and social life absolutely 
prevents any attempt on the part of the heir to the throne from 
being anything else but the first gentleman of England, the head 
of the social life of the countr3^ As such he was at once the idoj 
of the nobility and the object of scorn of the radical. 

NO ADDITIONAL HONOR. 

There was nothing on all the earth that could possibly tempt 
him to be ambitious. As the successor to the British throne he 
could not pose as a " mailed hand," like his nephew of Germany. 
He could not look forward to any exaltation of his condition, nor, 
in fact, to anything in the shape oi additional honor. 

By right of his birth he is the equal of the greatest of emperors, 
and carries about with him as a collection of pictures those proud 
orders of knighthood to gain which all other men, except kings 
and crowned princes, risk life and all that is dearer than life. 

He is, of course, many times over a doctor of laws, of divinity, 
of medicine, of music, and equally, of course, grand master of Free 
Masons, president of learned institutions and honorary colonel not 
only of home regiments, but of regiments all over Europe. He is 
a field-marshal, without having served in the field. 

He has been the object of severe and senseless criticisms. If 
he encouraged national sports, this great and acknowledged relaxa- 
tion in English life, he was a profligate, and he was compared with 
royal predecessors whose conduct certainly does not commend itself 
to-day to even the staunchest supporters of anarchy. 

If he did not lavish money which he did not possess he was 
said to be stingy. If he made an outlay on a church at Sandring- 
ham or a ball at Marlborough House he was a spendthrift. 



458 LIFE OF KING EDWARD. 

UnwortHy friendsliips were attributed to him with men upon whom 
he either never set eyes, or with whom he perhaps exchanged a 
casual word. If he played a game at cards, he was a gambler. 

" Fierce as is a light that beats upon a throne," the cruel 
and searching illumination of Albert Edward's life inflicted on him 
the disabilities and responsibilities, while denying him either the 
power of the throne or the privileges of a private station. Hence, 
it remains to be seen what he is as a man of independent thought 
and action, as king with power and authority, as master of his own 
situation. 

It is but stating plain truth to say that between the adulation 
of courtiers and the attacks of radicals, the new king is deservedly 
popular. Despite all the devotion shown Queen Victoria, the new 
king is certain of the most joyous homage ever vouchsafed any 
British sovereign, for he is closer to the people than any of them 
ever was. This is saying a great deal, for the nation has had 
many very popular rulers. 

NEVER SHIRKED ANY DUTY. 

Albert Bdward has never shirked any public duty, from the 
attendance at a horse-race to great occasions of state. He has 
always freely mixed with the people — according to the views of 
some very particular courtiers, too much so — and it is for this rea- 
son that if it were possible to ballot the whole of the British Empire 
to-day upon the question, " Who is the most popular man living? " 
the votes would probably be divided among half a dozen eminent 
men, but the name of Albert Edward would certainly be the most 
universally approved, and not solely because he is the king. 

No longer a young man, iVlbert Edward begins his reign with 
an experience and a popularity enjoyed by few sovereigns of any 
land. From the popular point of view, his position is one of envia- 
ble romance and power ; from his own point of view it has doubtless 
long since become one of unenviable monotony. 

If one were to ask what are the leading traits of the king's 
character, it would be difficult to name any distinguishing virtues, 
or vices for that matter, for the life of Albert Edward has shown so 



LIFE OF KING EDWARD. 



459 



well balanced a nature that it has no sharply defined features, un- 
less it be that of great patience with public clamor. He is a genial 
man, fond of traveling and sport and yet with great aptitude for 
purely domestic enjoyments. Thanks to an iron constitution and 
an unfailing stock of animal spirit — with which no doubt the said 
constitution has a good deal to do — the King has retained a youth- 
fulness and general vitality of expression which are noticeable 
wherever he is and whatever he is doing. 

Of the king's globe-trotting experiences, while he was yet 
Prince of Wales, books could be written. He has traveled in 
nearly all parts of the world, and has been received everywhere 
with remarkable enthusiasm. As a boy of fifteen he went through 
Germany and Switzerland, and two years later he paid a visit to the 
pope — the first visit the Vatican ever received from a British prince. 

GAYETY AND AMUSEMENT. 

His visit to this country in i860 was one ceaseless whirl of 
gayety, and is well remembered in Chicago where, as already 
stated, the royal party stopped at the old Richmond House, at the 
corner of Lake street and Michigan avenue. The grand ball given 
in his honor on that occasion is still talked about at the afternoon 
teas of the "old dames." 

A book, describing the American trip, also reveals the fact 
that before the Prince started on his journey, his father, the Prince 
Consort, supplied him with memoranda to be used in replying to 
the addresses which would be made to him during his progress. 
The best proof of the Prince Consort's wisdom, the writer says, is 
to be found in the fact that every one of those notes afterward 
turned out to be simply invaluable, owing to the peculiar aptness 
with which they had been framed to suit the circumstances of each 
locality where an address was likely to be received. 

The King has inherited much of the punctuality and devotion 
to public duties evinced by his lamented mother, and he is pre-emi- 
nently a busy man. In this respect the testimony of Chauncey M. 
Depew, who on one of his visits to England spent much time in the 
Prince's coterie, may well be given. 



460 LIFE OF KING EDWARD. 

'' Bver since the Prince reached his majority," says Mr. 
Depew, ^'he has been most careful in observing his public duties. 
If his presence is asked at a Sunday-school picnic, a horse show, a 
race course or a cornerstone laying, he is always there, no matter 
what the personal discomfort. In fact, association with his subjects 
has made his face more familiar to the people of England by actual 
.•Contact than any other human being, and far more than that of the 
President in our land to us. 

" They are proud of him, and I have yet to hear one man or 
woman speak who would not be glad to see him King, without 
meaning any disrespect to his mother. He has grown closer into 
their lives than any man of his rank in the history of England, 
He spends his money everywhere. He is charitable to a great 
degree, and the people of no nation are more fond of seeing their 
sovereign than the English. 

LIFE IN THE OPEN AIR. 

" His life in the field, whether behind the hounds, on the 
quarter stretch, or with his guns and dogs on the heather, is but a 
part of his common purpose to represent in all his actions the 
wishes of his people and their penchants." 

In this connection one of the countless anecdotes retailed 
about the king is quite apropos. While a young man some of the 
ladies of his set had arranged an elaborate picnic at which the 
Prince of Wales was to be the star. At the same time his presence 
was demanded for the laying of a corner stone for the town hall. 
The Prince broke the social engagement for the public one, and 
some time afterward he was good-naturedly chaffed by the ladies 
for his non-appearance at the picnic. 

" I was commanded to other duties," said the Prince in ex- 
planation. 

" Oh, I guess your mamma would not let you come," replied 
one who was more indiscreet than the others. 

The Prince's remark, made quite gravely, was: "Be kind 
enough, madam^ to remember that my mother is your Queen, and 
has the right to command us both." 



CHAPTER XXXI. 
Incidents in the Life of the King. 

EDWARD VII. by the grace of God, King of Great Britain and 
Ireland and Braperor of India, has been the most-talked- 
about and most-written-about Englishman of the nineteenth 
century. He has also been the most popular Knglishman of his 
day. He has fulfilled the difficult and delicate tasks of his posi- 
tion with rare tact and admirable j udgment. 

Strange as it may seem, he has never meddled in the politics 
of the Kingdom, and the outside public has very little idea of his 
real inclinations in. the matter of partizanship. 

The first Prince of Wales was afterwards crowned as Edward 
II., King of England. The title was first conferred in the thir- 
teenth century upon the infant son of Edward I., who was born at 
Caernarvon, while his father was fighting the Welsh. Edward 
agreed with the Welsh to give them a Prince who was a native of 
their own country, and then nominated his own son to the dignity. 

AN AMUSING CONTROVERSY. 

From first to last all of the Princes of Wales have had their 
share of trouble. Albert Edward came into the world heralding 
heart-burnings and envy. It had been customary to advance the 
officer on guard at St. James's Palace to the rank of major when a 
royal child was born ; but on the night of November 9, 1841, owing 
to the hour at which the guard was relieved, it became difficult to 
decide who was to receive the major's commission. 

The guard had been relieved at 10.45, ^•^^ ^^ 10.48 the child 
had been born. Then arose the question, which of the two officers 
was entitled to promotion, the officer of the old guard or the officer 
in command of the relief ? The officer of the fresh guard claimed 
it because his men marched into the palace yard before the birth, the 
other officer asserted his right to promotion because the sentries had 
not been changed at the time the child v/as born. So bitter became 
the discussion that it had to be taken to Lord Hill for decision, who 
gave the officer of the old guard the commission. 

461 



462 INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE KING. 

But this was not all. There was a similar case at Chester, 
involving civic honors and a title. The baby Prince having been 
born Karl of Chester, the Mayor of Chester expected to be made 
baronet. But it so happened that the old Mayor had gone out and 
the new Mayor had come into office on the same day, and it was 
difficult to decide which functionary was entitled to the honor. 

The new Mayor was a Tory linen draper, the ex-Mayor a Whig 
banker, and as the Queen did not at that time love a Tory, and 
had Lord Hill's decision in the case of the two officers of the guard 
to guide her, the banker probably became the baronet, but history, 
when consulted in regard to this momentous question, places a 
finger on her lips and is mute. 

A HARD WORKED MAN. 

Albert Edward as Prince of Wales has been the hardest 
worked man in the Kingdom. An endless routine of official and 
social functions have fallen perforce to his lot. The docks, harbors, 
bridges, and exhibitions that have been "inaugurated" or have 
been " opened" by him would have worn out long years since any 
other man but this one who had been reared with that very work 
in view. 

For the past forty years the Prince of Wales has lived in the 
blaze of fiercest publicity. The public has known all about his 
private life, what he ate and how much, how he dressed, whom he 
talked to and what he did from the moment he arose in the morn- 
ing until he retired at night. And he has born this scrutiny with 
a stoicism and good nature that have won him thousands of 
friends. 

The main secret of the new King's hold upon the people has 
been his unfailing good nature. A conspicuous, but little known 
incident illustrative of this occurred in the House of Commons 
one afternoon during the Spring of the session of 1875. The House 
was crowded in every part. 

A number of peers accompanied the Prince to the gallery of 
the House, while the austere Count Munster, German Ambassador, 
towered at the Prince's right hand, divided only by the partition 



INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE KING. 463 

between the peers' gallery, and the one set apart for distinguished 
strangers. 

Mr. Chaplin, a friend of the Prince's was to make a speech. 
Everything was ready, and the speaker was about to announce the 
orator of the occasion when Joseph Gillis Biggar, who was described 
at the time as " an educated, obscure Irishman, who, when not con- 
cerned with the affairs of the Imperial Parliament was curing bacon 
at Belfast and selling it at enhanced prices in Liverpool," rose in 
his place and observed : 

" Mr. Speaker, sir, I believe there are strangers in the House ?" 
The House of Commons, tied hand and foot by its own archaic 
regulations, had no appeal against this action. The prince and his 
suite were absolutely helpless. The rule invoked barred strangers, 
and out the party had to go. So they filed forth, the Prince of Wales 
at the head, the proud English peers following, and by another 
exit the Ambassador of one of the most powerful nations of Europe, 
practically driven from the House of Commons by the whim of 

one man. 

TOOK IT ALL IN GOOD PART. 

The Prince of Wales bore this unparalleled affront with the 
utmost good humor, and never displayed the slightest resentment 
toward Biggar, who had not the grace to refrain from boasting of 
the matter later on. 

The public life of the Prince of Wales practically began with 
his visit to Canada and the United States in i860. That he has 
been gifted with a good constitution is shown by his powers of en- 
durance through the wear and tear of his endless engagements. 
It is said that when he was in Canada he went about to all sorts of 
places the livelong day, usually a State dinner in the evening, and 
finished with a ball, at which he almost invariably danced from 
ten to four the next morning. His suite were sometimes worn 
out long before he showed the slightest signs of fatigue. 

For ten days in Ireland during one of his visits he scarcely 
had an hour to himself, except during the very brief intervals 
snatched for sleep. All his life he has had to meet and hold his 
own with diplomats, cardinals, chancellors, commanding officers. 



464 INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE KING. 

presidents, local deputations, and the most brilliant men and 
women of his age. Tlie result of this has been to make him per- 
haps the best all-round man in Europe. The late Ward McAllister 
spoke of him as the " great social arbitrator of the Bnglish-speak- 
ing world." 

A great many people believe that the eldest son of the Knglish 
sovereign is born Prince of Wales. This is not the case. He is 
by birth Duke of Cornwall, and is immediately afterwards created 
Prince of Wales. In point of fact Albert Edward was not invested 
with this title until just a month after his birth, the patent being 
dated December 8, 1841. 

LONG LIST OF TITLES. 

The charter styles him " Prince of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Saxony, 
Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Great Stew- 
ard of Scotland," and then proceeds to confer on him the titles of 
Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. When the Prince's name 
appears in the London Gazette nowadays, in connection with any 
military appointment, he can only be correctly described as fol- 
lows : " Field Marshal His Royal Highness Albert Edward, Prince 
of Wales and Duke of Cornwall (here follows a long list of titles), 
Colonel Tenth Hussars, Colonel-in-Field First Life Guards, Gordon 
Highlanders, and Royal Horse Guards, Personal Aide-de-Camp to 
the Queen." 

The exact financial position of the Prince of Wales has never 
been fully known. There have been rumors at times that he was 
greatly in debt. There are very grave doubts as to the truth of 
these charges, and some years ago Sir Francis Knollys felt called 
upon to announce that the Prince of Wales did not owe any debts 
that he could not shortly dispose of. 

When the Prince became of age he became possessed of the 
accumulations realized during his minority from the Duchy of 
Cornwall. A portion of them was expended in the purchase of the 
Sandringham estate, and the remainder became his. With this 
nest ^zz^ with an income of $550,000 per annum, one of $50,000 



INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE KING. 465 

for his wife, a separate provision for his children, and with Marl- 
borough House kept up for hira at the public cost, there seemed to 
be no reason for the alleged excessive expenditure. 

The Prince of Wales until he reached his majority was under 
the personal direction of his father, the Prince Consort. The 
latter trained his son with a carefulness that many people in lower 
ranks might imitate. He gave the lad the best of advice; he found 
him the best masters, he personally superintended his studies in 
European languages, and he mapped out all of his travels. 

It is not generally known that the Prince of Wales and his 
brothers were also trained by their father in mechanic arts. On 
the right of the entrance gate to Osborne, where the late Queen 
and Bmpress died, stands the royal children's toolhouse, built, as a 
slip of wood in the late Queen's handwriting states, by the Prince 
of Wales and the Duke of Bdinburg in 1857. It was in an excel- 
lent state of preservation up until a few years ago, for the late 
Prince Consort always taught his children that anything worth 
doing at all was worth doing well. 

WORKHOUSE OF THE YOUNG PRINCES. 

Judging from the size and work on this toolhouse the two 
Princes were very clever at carpentering, the boarding of the sides 
being substantially put together, and the gables of the roof mor- 
ticed in true form. Frequently when the Prince of Wales visited 
the gardens at Osborne he looked critically round this shed to see 
that the joinings were still secure. 

There is no more thorough stickler for Royal etiquette than 
Albert Edward, and this fact, together with the incident that 
caused the most discussion in the polite society of Europe some 
years ago, gave to the Prince of Wales the reputation of having 
the oddest code of etiquette of any Royal personage in the world. 
The incident referred to was that concerning Baron Hirsch, the 
wealthy and philanthropic Jew, for whom the Prince of Wales 
entertained the warmest friendship. 

The munificence and charity of Baron Hirscli have endeared 
his name to millions. When he entered London society in 1890 

30 



466 INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE KING. 

and at once became a great favorite with the Prince of Wales, and 
a member of the " Prince's set," his introduction was resented by a 
number of aristocrats and crowned heads. An incident in this 
connection came very nearly precipitating a diplomatic rupture, 
but the Prince of Wales stood by his new friend with a sturdiness 
that won even his enemies. 

At a ball given by the Duchess of Buccleugh, Baron Hirsch 
danced opposite the Prince in the quadrille of honor with the Ro^^al 
Part}^ The Princess Maud was his partner, precedence being given 
him over Count Deym, the Austrian Ambassador, and his wife. 
As at the Austrian Court Jews are prohibited, the only exceptions 
being the ladies of the Rothschild family, the effect upon Count 
Deym was so great that it was with the greatest difficulty he was 
prevented from resigning his office. 

To those who do not understand the Pnnce of Wales' code of 
social ethics, some of his actions have been difficult of comprehen- 
sion. The Prince considers that there are but two social ranks, 
Royalty and the people, and he is said, many 3'ears ago, to have 
declared his intention to democratize the British people so that 
they might realize that below Ro^^alty all are on a common level. 

IN HIS PRIVATE STUDY. 

Perhaps of all the clues that afford a real insight into the 
character of the new King the best is that furnished by his private 
study at Sandringham. Here every morning from ten to twelve 
o'clock he dictates answers to the letters laid before him by his 
private secretary. And the private mail of President McKinle}^ is 
said to be not as large as that of the new King. The room in ques- 
tion is the smallest of the Prince's suite. It is lit by a single large 
window. The woodwork is all of light oak, and the walls and ceil- 
ings are of a neutral tint. It is essentially the haunt of a man. 
There are no hangings, no bric-a-brac, no dainty devices of fair 
fingers, no soft rugs on the oaken floor. " Business " is written in 
invisible characters all over the apartment. 

The principal piece of furniture is a solid, square oaken desk, 
upon, which all ready laid to his hand, are the paper and envelopes 



INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE KING. 467 

the Prince invariably uses. Under the desk stands an odd waste 
basket, shaped like a high silk hat, for which the Prince furnished 
the idea originally. There are no books in the room, but a set of 
shelves holds all conveniences for smoking. On the walls hang a 
variety of sketches. There is a telephone by the window, and it 
connects with Marlborough House in London and various other 
places by private signal. 

There is a private side to the nevi King's life, which only a 
few of the initiated are permitted to see. There is one evening of 
the week that the Prince reserves to himself, and no amount of in- 
fluence or intriguing will induce him to undertake a formal function 
then, no matter how important it may be. That night is Sunday 
night. It is the ''night off" of H. R. H. It is the occasion when 
he is " at home " to his " set " and the little knot oi intimates that 
he cultivates. 

ATTENDS CHURCH REGULARLY. 

Like a good Christian and the ' ' first gentleman in England/' 
he invariably attends divine worship in the morning, dines early 
with his family, and then the night is his own. Henry Labouchere 
used to be the generous provider of Sunday night entertainments 
for the Prince. But Labouchere's conversion to liberalism has 
marred these plans. It is on these occasions that the generous, 
cultivated, genial and talented men of the world meet the Prince. 
The wits, musicians, vocalists, dramatists and travelers with a 
sprinkling of journalists, lawyers and physicians are on his list. 

All of these, and many other people were bidden to this Sun' 
day night feast. After a charming supper, they sang and played, 
chatted, chaffed and reveled in the Bohemianism of the occasion. 
There was no formality or restraint. There were no speeches or 
prosings, no healths to be drunk, no studied compliments to be paid. 
It was a night of laughter and song, of jest and wine ; a company 
where all the guests were clever. 

The law of succession to the throne of England rests on the 
presumption that the sovereignty never dies. There is no inter- 
rugnum ; the crown passes instantly. In the case of Edward VII., 



468 INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE KING. 

while lie will be King of Great Britain and Ireland, and Emperor 
of India, his wife will be known as the Queen Consort. 

Concerning the visit of the Prince of Wales to this country, to 
which reference has already been made, one of our public journals 
made the following interesting comments : 

" The fact that the Prince visited the United States on that 
occasion was due chiefly to the gracious tact with which James 
Buchanan, who was then President, requested Queen Victoria to 
permit her son's entrance into this country. It had been originall}'' 
planned that his journey should be only in Canada, although 
doubtless with an expectation that he would be asked to cross the 
border. However this may have been, Mr. Buchanan, who, pre- 
vious to the nomination to the presidency, had been American 
Minister at the Court of St. James, and had frequently met the 
Queen in the course of his social and diplomatic duties — -although 
not until after the famous friction over the sort of clothes he should 
wear had been removed — took early opportunity in the summer of 
i860 to address her on the subject. 

LETTER FROM THE QUEEN. 

" I have learned," he wrote, " from the public journals that the 
Prince of Wales is about to visit Your Majesty's North American 
dominions. Should it be the intention of His Royal Highness to 
extend his visit to the United States, I need not say how happy I 
shall be to give him a cordial welcome to Washington." 

To this Victoria, who was then forty years of age, and whose 
husband, the Prince Consort, was still living, replied in terms of 
gratification. She assured her " good friend " that it would give 
the Prince great pleasure to have an opportunity to certify in per- 
son to the feelings of good will which the President had expressed 
and which he fully reciprocated. 

" He will thus be able, at the same time," said the Queen, "to 
mark the respect which he entertains for the Chief Magistrate of a 
great and friendly state and kindred nation." There had been some 
misgivings expressed here and there as to whether it would be wise 
\o allow the young man with his escort of noblemen to pass through 



INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE KING. 469 

a country in which the memory of his great-grandfather, George III., 
had not yet ceased to be an occasional object of patriotic anathema. 

There was a fear that some of the exuberant members of the 
Native American lodges of recent years might conceive that it was 
their duty to indicate their displeasure. But Buchanan, as the 
head of the Democratic party, which contained the strongest anti- 
English prejudices of the day, gave the assurance that there was 
little or nothing to be apprehended on that score, and declared that 
the majority of his countrymen would have no objection if he should 
entertain the heir apparent in the White House. 

And so, in the main, it turned out to be. Extravagant adula- 
tion rather than unfriendly criticism marked nearly the whole 
journey in the United States. In almost every city he was received 
with the same spirit of welcome that was manifested in Philadel- 
phia. He had dropped all royal state and travelled under the 
name of Baron Renfrew. But pursuing crowds of enthusiasts, tuft 
hunters and municipal committees, as well as invitations to balls, 
dinners and receptions were everywhere the order of the day. 

THE PRINCE AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 

It was shortly before he came to Philadelphia that he reached 
Washington as the guest of Buchanan. He spent several days in 
the capital as the President's guest in the White House and en- 
joyed particularly the society of the President's accomplished young 
niece, Harriet Lane. His visit to Mount Vernon and the respect 
which he paid to the tomb of George Washington, were noted by 
the American people as a rule with a profound sense of sentimen- 
tal sympathy. 

Buchanan, moreover, had performed the ofi&ces of hospitality 
with marked discretion. Few politicians have understood the 
temper of his countrymen in these things better than " Old Public 
Functionary." He refrained from extravagant or ostentatious dis- 
play ; his conduct was a model of simple dignity, and he took care 
to foot up all the bills of the Prince's visit to Washington out of 
his own pocket and scrupulously and sternly refused to allow the 
national treasury to be drawn upon. 



470 INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE KING. 

On the day wlien the Prince and his suite left the national 
capital, the President wrote to Victoria that his prophecy of a cor- 
dial welcome by the American people to her son had now become 
history. This was to be attributed, he said, not only to the high 
regard entertained for her, but also to the Prince's "noble and manly 
bearing " in passing through " a trying ordeal for a person of hi;^ 
years." His visit exercised a happy influence on the kindrec 
people of the two countries and Buchanan had no doubt that tht 
visit would be to the end all that Her Majesty could have desired, 

The following is the substance of an interview with the Prince 
of Wales shortly before his mother's death. A correspondent who 
had been privileged to meet him on more than one occasion, had 
an interview with him at Marlborough House, his Royal Highness's 
London residence. The Prince talked with great frankness con- 
cerning himself and his views on various subjects. 

PRESSURE OF PUBLIC BUSINESS. 

*' If any one ever deserved the appellation of a 'busy man,' " 
writes the interviewer, " the Prince does, and there are few city mer- 
chants or business men who work harder than he does, and even 
the London public has no idea of the quantity of work he gets 
through in the course of a day. It is only by following a most 
methodical arrangement that he is able to do so much as he does in 
the time. As a matter of fact, all his engagements are made weeks 
and sometimes months ahead, and every hour, almost every minute, 
is mapped out for him. 

" When the correspondent was ushered into his study at Marl- 
borough House, the Prince was seated at an old fashioned pedestal 
writing desk, the fac-simile of the one used by his father, the late 
Prince Consort, which was piled high with papers and documents 
of all descriptions. He wore a black morning coat and vest, dark 
gray trousers, square fronted collar, with a white spotted black bow 
tie, and patent leather shoes, and in his fingers he held the inevit- 
able cigar. 

"His greeting was kind in the extreme. It was merely like an 
elderly business man smiling a kind welcome to a young intruder. 



INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE KING. 4/1 

*' Well, what do you want ine to say ?" was his Royal High- 
ness 's query as soon as the preliminary greetings were over. 

The correspondent launched forth his questions, beginning 
with inquiries about the numerous public dinners which the Prince 
attended, and alluding to the published statement that the Prince 
held the record for obtaining the largest sum of money ever col- 
lected at one banquet. 

" Yes. That's quite correct. I certainly hold the record in 
that respect," said the Prince. "And presiding at dinners, etc., for 
the benefit of charities, especially Masonic ones, is almost a pleas- 
ure to me ; the onl}^ part I do not like about the proceedings is if 
the dinner drags itself out to a considerable length. That I do 
not like, and when dining in private at home the meal seldom lasts 
more than an hour." 

"I have read many times in reports of dinners, etc., at which 
your Royal Highness has been present," said the correspondent, 
" that you were continually smiling during the proceedings and 
seemed to be enjoying yourself very much ?" 

" Yes," replied the Prince (a shade of weariness creeping into 

his eyes), " that is where I act. If only you knew how terribly 

bored I am by the inordinate length of some of these dinners, and 

the speeches, and how I am longing to get away, you would be 

really sorry for me. But, there — I must not say too much on that 

subject." 

FOND OF WHOLESOME SPORTS. 

" With regard to horse racing and betting, your Royal High- 
ness ?" 

" I think racing is the finest sport in the world, and I only 
regret that it should be harmed by the amount of betting w^hich 
goes on. Personally, I am strongly adverse to the practice, and I 
always use what influence I possess to discountenance it amongst 
my personal friends, especially when it is made a regular practice 
of and the stakes are large." 

" There are many people who think that ^^our Royal Highness 
has a very easy life of it, and that the hardest duties which you 
have to perform are attending state functions, etc." 



472 INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE KING. 

" Now, here is some information for you," said the Prince. 
" Do you know that I myself see every letter which is addressed to 
me, and in the majority of instances dictate the reply. When the 
mail arrives in the morning it is opened by my secretary's staff 
and sorted into three groups — letters from personal friends and 
relatives, those bearing on State affairs, and thirdly, begging letters 
and petitions, etc., — and I make it my business to make myself 
aware of the contents of each. This of itself is no light task, when 
you take into consideration the fact that each morning's mail con- 
sists of some hundreds of letters. So that those who say mine is 
an idle life malign me." 

"One more question," said the correspondent. "What is yotir 
Royal Highness' favorite recreation ?" 

" Shooting," he replied unhesitatingly. " There is nothing I 
like better than a good day's shoot. It seems the only thing whicK 
takes me out of myself and makes me forget the cares and respon> 
sibilities of my position." 



CHAPTER XXXII. 
Powers of Great Britain's Sovereign. 

Long live the King ! is the proclamation in the United King' 
doni and throughout the Empire upon which the sun never sets. 
It is a feature of monarchy that it knows no interregnum, save 
in cases so rare as to be revolutionary. The moment that sees 
the death of one sovereign sees also the accession of another. So 
there is a new figure among the rulers of the world, a figure 
new as that of a ruler, though long familiar as a man and as the 
heir of the throne. Indeed, not many heirs apparent have 
waited for accession as long as he, and none, we may confidently 
add, more patiently. 

There has been no furtive trying on of the maternal crown. 
And it may well be believed that, apart from the inconsolable 
bereavement and regret which he feels at the loss of his revered 
mother, for simply personal reasons His Majesty ascends the 
throne of his ancestors with no eagerness, but with sincere reluct- 
ance. To one who would serve his own comfort and pleasure 
there is little to be desired in royal palaces. To one who would 
serve the welfare of his people there is opportunity which is to be 
accepted more as a duty than as a delight, save the delight that is 
found in duty itself. 

The King, as we have said, is well known as a man and a 
prince. For a quarter of a century he has been the greatest per- 
sonage in Europe outside the list of reigning monarchs — the 
most courted, the most sought after, the most in perpetual evi- 
dence. There has always been much in his life, and steadily 
more from year to year, that all the world commends and ad- 
mires. We are now considering him as the Prince of Wales, 
which he was from his birth to the day of his mother's death. 

And we have only to compare his record with that of other 
Princes of Wales and of other heirs to thrones to see a splendid 

473 



474 POWERS OF GREAT BRITAIN'S SOVEREIGN. 

vindication of Hs loyalty, his patriotism and, we may add, his 
statesmanship. It has been the general rule for the heir to a 
throne to be either openly or secretly the leader of the Opposi- 
tion. We do not mean the Parliamentary Opposition, but a court 
circle of opposition far more mischievous. 

In more than one European monarchy within the memory of 
living men the heir apparent has been at the head of what was 
almost a rival court, and has long been in semi-estrangement 
from his sovereign. In the case of him who was but yesterday 
the Prince of Wales and is to-day the King of England there has 
never been a suspicion of the sort, or ground for one. 

HELPFUL TO THE QUEEN. 

He has scrupulously refrained from any meddling in politics, 
but so far as he has been identified with public affairs it has been 
as an affectionate son of his mother and a devotedly loyal, saga- 
cious and helpful subject of the Queen. He passes now from the 
duties of aid to those of successor to his mother, without a jar, 
and with the well-earned confidence that nearly sixty years' 
close observation of him inspired among all classes in the British 

Empire. 

In the transition from the reign of Victoria to that of her son 
the Kingdom and Empire suffer no other than a purely personal 
change. In a constitutional monarchy the personality of the 
monarch may weigh less than that of the president in a republic. 
The King will govern through his Ministers and Parliament, 
and these are selected for him by the people, and will, therefore, 
remain substantially the same under the King as they have been 
under the Queen. The international standing and relationships 
of the realm will also remain unchanged. 

The personal prestige of the British Crown will not be 
impaired. For the King, though the newest sovereign in Europe, 
is the senior of many, and especially of those with whom he will 
most come into contact. He is the uncle of the German and 
Russian Emperors, and the senior of the sovereigns of Italy, 
Spain and Portugal and the Netherlands. There is therefore no 



POWERS OF GREAT BRITAIN S SOVEREIGN. 475 

fear of liis inot inaiutainmg with ease the distinguished rank of 
Great Britain among the sovereignties of the world. 

He is, moreover, blessed with a companionship of a Queen 
who commands the love of the people and the esteem of all the 
world in a measure well nigh comparable with that of his lamented 
mother. Her presence will assure for his Court a degree of purity 
and grace not unlike that which for more than sixty years has 
prevailed there and has given the British Court an honorable 
pre-eminence. Thus beginning his reign at a time when the 
British Empire is greater and more powerful than ever before, 
and when there is an auspicious outlook for the continuance of its 
prosperity, Albert Edward may well enjoy the sincere good 
wishes of all men and hear no false note in the popular acclaim 
of " Long live the King !" 

ESTEEMED AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

Edward VII. ascends the throne with qualities and an expe- 
rience that will equip him to succeed the lamented Queen, and 
a worldwide popularity that attests the esteem in which he is 
held at home and abroad. Though it has riveted universal atten- 
tion and comes for the first time in nearly sixty-four years of 
English history, the passing of the crown from one sovereign to 
another in the greatest of empires is an event of less political 
significance than was any of the eighteen changes of Prime 
Ministers that mark the reign of Victoria. 

The obvious reason is that in the British system the King 
and Emperor, theoretically all powerful, is practically less potent 
than the Prime Minister. The Premier rather than the sover- 
eign is in reality the executive head of the nation. A new Ministry 
means a new government and national policy. The accession of 
a king does not necessarily involve any change of Ministers, 
government or policy. 

This cannot be said of Russia, for example, where the Czar 
is the real as well as the titular ruler, nor of Germany, whose 
Kaiser wields a power not conceded to a British sovereign, nor 
even of the United States, where a change of President may 



476 POWERS OF GREAT BRITAIN'S SOVEREIGN. 

signify a new national departure. But limited as are liis consti- 
tutional prerogatives, the influence wliicli tlie King of Great Bri- 
tain and tlie Emperor of India may exert on public affairs and 
national policy is not to be underestimated. 

Nominally a monarcby, tbe Britisb Government is in realiiy 
''a veiled republic." The sovereign is a monarcli in name, but 
witb far less power tban is vested in the President of the Ameri- 
can Republic. . The King reigns without ruling. He does not 
govern, but is governed. He appoints Ministers, who are his 
masters instead of his servants. He summons and prorogues 
Parliament, but only in obedience to the will of the people. He 
reads addresses from the throne, signs decrees of state and 
approves acts of Parliament, but as an agent rather than a 

principal. 

RULERS ARE SERVANTS. 

Much is heard of the British constitution, but, unlike the 
American, it is not a written charter. The immediate rulers of 
the Empire are the Ministers, and they are the creatures as well 
as the servants of the people. Their accession and tenure depend 
on the will of the Commons, and that in turn on the will of the 
people. Unlike the Senate of the United States, which is elective, 
the House of Lords is largely hereditary. But the greatest gov 
ernmental power is wielded by the House of Commons, and this 
like the House of Representatives at Washington, is the creature 
of popular suffrage. 

In striking contrast with the nominal functions of the British 
sovereign are the real constitutional powers of the American 
Chief Magistrate. He is the executive head of the government, 
in fact as well as in name. By recommending measures to Con- 
gress he exercises an important influence on legislation. No bill 
can become a law without his approval unless passed by a two- 
thirds vote over his veto. In making treaties with the consent of 
the Senate he virtually controls the foreign policy and relations 
of the nation. 

It is for him to appoint, with the concurrence of the Senate, 
which is rarely withheld, every diplomatic representative of the 



POWERS OF GREAT BRITAIN'S SOVEREIGN. 477 

Urii'^.ed States, all federal judges and numerous other of&cials. 
As commander-in-cliief of the army and navy, he directs the 
operations of both. Though war may be declared only by Con- 
gress, military and naval force may be used for emergencies in 
time of peace by order of the President. 

The difference between the sovereign of England and the 
President of the United States finds a striking illustration in the 
South African and Spanish wars. It is well known that Queen 
Victoria keenly deprecated the former, but was powerless to avert 
it. It was the act of a Ministry nominally subject to her com- 
mand, but really her ruler, and was sanctioned by a Parliament 
over which she had no control. Though the Spanish War could 
be declared only by Congress, it was Mr. McKinley who sent the 
ultimatum that led to a breach of diplomatic relations and open 
hostilities between Spain and the United States. It was Mr. 
McKinley also who dictated the terms of peace that stripped 
Spain of her last colonies and added the Philippines as well as 
Puerto Rico to the national domain and sovereignty. 

GOVERNMENT REMAINS THE SAME. 

Quickly and smoothly, with a few brief ceremonies, the 
British realm and of the great Empire of which it is the core is 
transferred, and the whole machinery of its Government runs 
right on as it ran before. 

The immediate change is seen to be nominal only. I^ord 
Salisbury remains at his post as Prime Minister and all his Cab- 
inet with him, recommissioned, after a formal resignation, by the 
new sovereign. Parliament meets to recognize officially the 
beginning of the new reign, but there is no change in its orga- 
nization or in its legislative programme. The heads of the great 
administrative'departments of the Government go as if nothing had 
happened. The fact that there is a new head of the state involves 
no changes in the personnel of the Foreign Of&ce, the War 
Office, the Admiralty, the Treasury, the Colonial or the Home 
Of&ce, neither of the men at the top nor of the clerks below. 

One of the sharpest contrasts between the working of the 



478 POWERS OF GREAT BRITAIN'S SOVEREIGN. 

Britisli governmental machinery and that of the United States isi 
thus exemplified. When President Harrison died and Mr. Tyler 
became President in his place there was a complete change of 
administration. With the new President came a new Cabinet, 
with new chief ofiicials in all the departments and a general 
change of of&ce-holders all over the country. The same thing 
occurred when President Taylor died and was succeeded by Mr. 
Fillmore, again when President Lincoln's death brought Andrew 
Johnson to the head of the Government, and once more when 
Garfield's death called Mr. Arthur to the Presidency. And in 
three of these four instances the main lines of American policy 
were changed along with the personnel of the Administration. 

EFFECT ON THE IRISH CAUSE. 

The accession of Edward VII. to the throne causes no 
change whatever in British policies. The Salisbury-Chamberlain 
party continues to control and shape them, j ust as if Victoria 
still reigned, until either their majority in the House of Commons 
refuses longer to support them or Parliament expires by the seven 
year limitation. 

The influence of the Sovereign is not confined to official acts. 
It is largely moral and operates powerfully through public opin- 
ion. It requires some audacity to oppose the King's expressed 
wishes. 

Justin McCarthy, historian of the Queen's reign, has written 
the following statement on the effect the accession of King Edward 
is likely to have on the Irish cause : 

"I do not think the substitution of the Prince of Wales for 
the Queen as sovereign will have much, if any effect, on the Irish 
national cause. The effect, if any, would be rather injurious 
than otherwise, as the feelings of the Queen were known to be on 
the whole friendly and favorable to Ireland, and she is not believed 
to have favored the policy of a South African war. 

"The Prince has never given, so far as I have heard, any 
expression of opinion from which the Irish Nationalists could 
derive any encouragement to their hopes, and his surroundings 



POWERS OF GREAT BRITAIN'S SOVEREIGN. 479 

would seem likely to be favorable to an imperialistic policy and 
not sympathetic with Irish claims. 

"The time, however, has gone by when the mere sympathies 
of a sovereign either way could much affect the prospects of the 
Irish cause, and Irishmen must look to their own united and 
patriotic action to press the justice of their claims on the attention 
of Parliament and people, and make it clear that nothing can 
satisfy Ireland short of the restoration of her national Parliament. 

"The Prince of Wales is believed to have strong common 
sense, and if he makes up his mind to the fact that the Irish 
claim must be granted sooner or later he may then help to make 
his reign memorable for good." 

KING EDWARD'S SPEECH. 

On the occasion of assuming the throne, the King stated 
that he intended to exercise his pierogfl^tives as sovereign in his 
address to the Privy Council : 

"Your Royal Highness, my Lords and Gentlemen : This is 
the most painful occasion on which I shall ever be called upon to 
address you. My first and melancholy duty is to announce to 
you the death of my beloved mother, the Queen ; and I know 
how deeply you and the whole nation, and, I think I may say, 
the whole world, sympathize with me in the irreparable loss we 
have all sustained. 

" I need hardly say that my constant endeavor will be 
always to walk in her footsteps. In undertaking the heavy load 
which now devolves upon me, I am fully determined to be a con- 
stitutional sovereign in the strictest sense of the word, and, so 
long as there is breath in my body, to work for the good and 
amelioration of my people. 

" I have resolved to be known by the name of Edward, which 
has been borne by six of my ancestors. In doing so I do not 
undervalue the name of Albert, which I inherit from my ever-to- 
be lamented, great and wise father, who by universal consent is, 
I think, deservedly known by the name of Albert the Good, and 
I desire that his name should stand alone. 



480 POWERS OF GREAT BTITAIN'S SOVEYEIGN. 

*' In conclusion, I trust to Parliament and the nation to sup- 
port me in the arduous duties which may devolve upon me by 
inheritance, and to which I am determined to devote my whole 
strength during the remainder of my life." 

It will be seen that in taking the oath the new monarch 
assumed the title of Edward VII., King of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India. In wealth, 
territory, and population this is probabl}^ the greatest realm ever 
ruled by a sovereign in ancient or modern times. China is sup- 
posed to have 400,000,000 souls within its borders, but, with that 
possible exception, Edward VII. is the titular ruler of millions 
more people than owe allegiance to any sovereign. 

The British Empire includes India, Australia, British North 
America, British West Indies, British Asia, and British Africa. 
The total area, including the colonies and dependencies, of this 
vast domain is over 11,000,000 square miles, containing a total 
population of 366,000,000. The area of the Chinese Empire is 
but 4,179,000 square miles, and, while the vast reaches of the 
Russian Empire include over 8,000,000 square miles, the total 
population is only 108,000,000. 

GREAT POWER OF THE KING. 

Edward VII. is the titular ruler of the great British Empire, 
but it has become a commonplace that the sovereign of Great 
Britain reigns but does not govern. The sovereign of England 
has large powers, but the rulers of to-day are the members 
of the House of Commons, who represent the people. 

He has no veto on legislation, and has been deprived by 
constitutional practice of the exercise of prerogatives which were 
legally his, but when occasion requires he can change his , 
ministers, and set up a new government. In this way he is a 
ruler clothed with power. The main difference between the 
British system and our own may be traced to the fact that the 
United States has a written Constitution, while the British 
Constitution is, for the most part unwritten. 

This unwritten Constitution is made up of custom and prac- 



POWERS OF GREAT BRITAIN'S SOVEREIGN. 451 

tice, and during the past century the tendencies were so strongly 
democratic that the English government is, except in name, 
essentially a democracy. The English monarch, according to 
English law, has high prerogatives, but according to the Consti- 
tution or custom "he can exercise no prerogative affecting seri- 
ously the well-being of the realm." The Ministers are responsible 
for every act, and the sovereign " acts only upon the advice of 
the Ministers." The Cabinet is now the repository of power, and 
the power is exercised b}/- the most influential members of the 
Cabinet who form the Ministry. 

So firmly settled has become the custom that the monarch 
now gives effect, whatever his personal wishes may be, to policies 
which the Cabinet favors. The Cabinet can only rule by having 
majorities in the House of Commons, who represent the people of 
England. From the passage of the Reform bill of 1832 the sove- 
reign's power has been minimized. An " unpurchasable House 
of Commons" represents the people's will ; the influence of the 
House of Lords has been curtailed, and the Cabinet and Ministry 
which represent the majorities in the Commons, exercise the 
Crown's prerogatives. 

APPROVES THE POLICY OF THE CABINET. 

While the King of England does not possess, under the 
present Constitution, the powers which were formerly associated 
with the kingly office, his influence is great. A rash sovereign 
might, in his intercourse with foreign rulers, provoke such 
resentment as would decide the question of peace or war between 
nations, and a prudent King who follows in the footsteps of 
Queen Victoria, may prove a mighty power in preserving amity 
with the world. King Edward is credited with strong common 
sense ; he knows the temper of the English people so well that 
he will probably never be so unwise as to attempt to thwart their 
will, and the recent history of England shows that a sovereign 
who follows the nation will win honor for the sovereign and 
glory for the realm. 

Barring the disillusions caused by a few modern embellish- 

31 .... 



482 POWERS OF GREAT BRITAIN'S SOVEREIGN. 

meiits, sucli as railways, Bnglaud at ttie time of the Queen's 
deatli, miglit liave been tliouglit to be in tlie tentb instead of the 
twentieth century. Nobles and officials, arrayed in arcl:aic cos- 
tumes, with ancient symbols of office, in all cities and towns were 
performing tlie old time rites pertaining to the accession of a 
sovereign. Placards printed in quaint type and quainter Shake- 
spearian language proclaiming Edward VII. King of the United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, were 
surrounded by crowds, as they have been in centuries past, read- 
ing the proclamation eagerly, as if they had not already read it 
in the newspapers. 

Anyone crediting the English with republican tendencies 
must have been convinced by the week's demonstrations of the 
unquestioning loyalty of the whole people to the monarchy. 
Thousands of columns of editorials in journals of every shade, 
save a few Irish publications, contained no hint of dissatisfaction 
with Edward Rex, only confidence and good wishes. No monarch 
ever took the crown more strongly supported. 

POPULAR ALL OVER EUROPE. 

The same good feeling toward Edward VI I. pervades Europe. 
Only a few Parisian and Russian papers attacked him. The 
tributes to the dead Queen cause an era of good feeling on the 
part of the English toward their sister nations. Emperor Wil- 
liam's willing abandonment of the celebration of the bi-centennial 
of the Prussian monarchy did much to strengthen the Anglo- 
German alliance, while the action of the Boer prisoners at Cape 
Town in giving up their sports pending the Queen's funeral 
softened the animosities of war. 

The solemnity with which the English people look on what 
seem to Americans to be strange ceremonies is remarkable. 
Every Englishman thinks he has a personal share in the affair. 

A unique illustration of British adherence to traditions 
marked the signing of the proclamation at St. James's Palace. 
The Lord Mayor is always one of the signers, whereupon, accord- 
ing to the view of the Privy Councillors, he must retire before 



POWERS OF GREAT BRITAIN'S SOVEREIGN. 483 

tlie King enters and the speeches are made. An ancient picture 
represents the Lord Mayor among the receivers of the King, 
therefore the mayors invariably claim this right. On Wednes- 
day, January 23d, however, the Duke of Devonshire, as Lord 
President of the Council, requested the Lord Mayor to leave the 
room, which he reluctantly did. 

Speaking of the new monarch the London "Times" had 
this to say : 

" The King has undergone a long training in ciie best of 
schools and has proved himself the possessor of great natural 
aptitude for the duties of royalty. Endowed as he is with mau}^ 
of the most lovable and most attractive qualities of his mother, 
with warm sympathies, a kind heart, and generous disposition, 
and with a quick appreciation of genuine worth, the nation is 
happy in the confidence that it may count upon the maintenance 
of that conception of royalty which is the only one that most of 
us have ever known. To these qualities the King adds perfect 
tact, a wide knowledge of men and business, the virtues of 
method, prompt decision and punctuality, and a great capacity 
for work." 

GOOD OLD ENGLISH NAME. 

The new King has given general satisfaction by adopting 
the good old English name Edward. It carries the mind back to 
the far off days of the English Justinian, Edward I., of whom our 
latest historian, Professor Goldwin Smith, has said, " No tomb in 
Westminster Abbey holds nobler dust than his." Albert, though 
common enough in England now, is not really English at all. 

If it be difdcult for the moment to realize who is meant by 
Edward VII., that is because we are all grown so much accus- 
tomed to the most popular Prince of Wales who ever bore the 
title, and to his gracious wife, now Queen Consort. 

Edward VII. 's express resolve to be like his mother, a "con- 
stitutional sovereign," is one which everybody believes he will 
carry out. During his long heir apparency he carefully abstained 
not merely from political intrigue, but from all action which could 
be even twisted into preference of one party over another. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

The New Queen of Great Britain. 

IT IS related tliat three young princesses sat in a beautiful old 
wood, once upon a time, talking "in naive girlish fashion" of 
the future. 

"I should like," said one princess, who was very lively and 
vivacious, "to have all the best things the world can give, so that 
I could do much good." 

"I," observed a younger princess, "should like to be very 
clever and wise and good." 

" And I," observed the third princess, thoughtfully, "should 
like best to be loved." 

It is said that these three princesses were Dagmar, Thyra and 
Alexandra of Denmark, and that she who spoke last realized her 
ambition by going to England as Princess of Wales, and earning 
the title " Queen of Hearts." 

And, indeed, the life story of Queen Alexandra, so long 
beloved as Princess of Wales, reads like a tale of enchantment. 
Born to modest fortunes, no more simple and retiring existence 
could be imagined than that which she led in the Gule Palace and 
the Chateau of Bernstorff. The former of these homes, where her 
earliest years were spent, is described as being in no sense a 
palace, but merely a comfortable dwelling, containing pleasantly 
furnished rooms set around a dull, gloomy courtyard, and it is 
said that the windows of Alexandra's room "had a very unlovely 
view of the courtyard, the chimneys and smoke begrimed walls of 
neighboring houses." 

At the time of her birth her father. Prince Christian, had no 
expectation of ever succeeding to the throne of Denmark ; for he 
belonged to a younger branch of the House of Oldenburg. His 
income was small for the maintenance of a family numbering 
five children, but he was cast in an intellectual mould, as was his 
wife, and the two supplemented whatever was lacking in the 

484 



THE NEW QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN. 485 

instruction furnished by teachers who came to Gule daily, for the 
services of resident tutors and governesses were pecuniarily 
beyond reach. 

The Princess Christian was a wise and careful mother. Her 
daughters she taught the arts of dressmaking and millinery, so 
that they could manufacture their own wardrobes, and household 
tasks of all kinds formed part of their education. Princess Alex- 
andra remarked herself in later years, "We were made to learn 
when we were children ; our parents told us it was necessary." 
She herself, though not especially studious, inherited the maternal 
talent for music and embroidery ; in fact, in all gentle and fem- 
inine arts she seemed to excel. She was early pronounced the 
beauty of the family. 

HEIR TO THE MONARCHY. 

Prince Christian had from his thirteenth year been the 
adopted son of the reigning monarch of Denmark, King Christian 
VIIL, and his prospects were considerably altered upon the death of 
the latter in the year 1852. Frederick VII. then came to the throne, 
and Prince Christian was formally constituted heir to the mon- 
arch}^ No increase of income accompanied these increased 
honors, however, and extreme simplicity still characterized the 
life of his family. The only change of moment was that of 
removal from Gule to the Chateau of Bernstorff, which the nation 
purchased and presented to him. 

The annals of childhood in the case of Princess Alexandra 
contain no striking incidents. Life at Bernstorff was much more 
delightful than at Gule. It is narrated how she and her brothers 
rejoiced with natural, childlike joy over the country pleasures 
now theirs, and how they " roamed the woods gathering wild 
flowers, swinging on the branches of great trees in the adjacent 
forests, cantering along the country roads on their ponies, and 
tending their pet animals." Untrammeled by forms and cere- 
monies of station, surrounded by the love of good and wise 
parents, their lot was more enviable than they, perhaps, could 
appreciate, 



186 THE NEW QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

Stories are multiplied of how on Sunday, they would accom- 
pany their parents on foot to the little church of Gjentofie, where 
the villagers of the neighborhood worshiped, and how Alexandra 
xnd her sisters visited among the peasants, carrying comforts to 
ihe needy and words of sympathy to the sick or unhappy. These 
charities were the result of some self-sacrifice, doubtless, for, as 
his children grew older, the modest resources of the Prince com- 
pelled economy in the household. 

The Lutheran priest of Gjentofie prepared Princess Alex- 
andra for confirmation, and the ceremony was carried out in the 
Chapel Royal, part of the Christianborg Palace, Copenhagen. 
She had then reached the age of sixteen, and her personal charms 
were such that the beauty of her appearance, clad simply in white, 
was matter of enthusiastic comment. It was predicted then that 
she would be a prize for some European sovereign. 

MADE A VISIT TO ENGLAND. 

During childhood Princess Alexandra had visited England, 
staying for a while with her great-aunt, the Duchess of Cam- 
bridge, and when she had reached maidenhood she sometimes 
went with her parents on visits to the lesser German royalties. 
From these places her fame as a beauty spread to England. 

It seems established as fact that the Prince of Wales fell in 
love with a miniature of the Princess Alexandra, seen at the 
home of the Duchess of Cambridge, and entrusted to a confiden- 
tial friend the task of repairing to Copenhagen to see her and to 
bring back a reliable report of her personality. Subsequently an 
informal meeting took place between the Princess and Prince, 
concerning which the suspicion has existed that it was pre- 
arranged by the latter. 

At all events, when the Prince was traveling abroad in 1861, 
he went with his attendants one day to see the famous Cathedral 
of Worms, and there met Prince Christian and the blue-eyed 
Alexandra also sight-seeing. Again, while staying at Heidel- 
berg, the Prince encountered her, and his father, the Prince Con- 
sort, recorded in his diary: "We hear nothing but excellent 



THE NEW QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN. 487 

accounts of the Princess Alexandra ; tlie young people liave evi- 
dently taken a warm liking to each other." 

A third meeting is spoken of as having taken place at the 
country seat of King Leopold, Laeken, and on September 9, 1862, 
the pair were betrothed, although the news was not given to the 
world for some few months, being then announced in the columns 
of the London Gazette. Queen Victoria had set her heart upon 
a German alliance for her son, and it was only through the per- 
suasions of her most trusted advisers that she relinquished the 
plan and consented to the marriage. 

DESTINED TO THE THRONE OF BRITAIN. 

And so the daughter of the Sea Kings swept forth into public 
view, and to this girl, reared with such an entire absence of osten- 
tation, opened the prospect of one day taking her place as consort 
on the throne of England. A greater contrast of conditions 
never occurred in one life than that between the maiden and mar- 
ried state of Princess Alexandra, and perhaps no bridegroom ever 
made wiser choice than did Albert Edward, when he secured for 
his companion through life the young girl whom circumstances 
had disciplined into the wearing of rank worthily. 

The engagement was of six months' duration, and the prepa- 
tions for the nuptial ceremony were gorgeous in the extreme. It 
is said that the Princess took much pleasure in the elaboration of 
her trousseau, confiding to an intimate friend that " it cost twice 
as much as her father's income for a whole year," One hundred 
thousand kroners ($28,000), contributed by the Danes, was pre- 
sented to her as the "people's dowry," whereupon the Princess 
made six dowerless Danish brides happy by ordering the division 
among them of 6000 thalers ($4200). 

King Leopold of Belgium presented her wedding dress, 
wrought out of Brussels lace. Splendid and numerous were the^ 
gifts showered upon the bride-elect, and the poor people among 
whom she had lived and moved, and had tended and whose utmost 
devotion was hers, they, too, had their offering to bring. A depu- 
tation of villagers, led by the worthy pastor of the little church 



488 THE NEW QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

where slie had so often worshiped, presented to her a pair of 
porcelain vases. The Princess was so much touched that tears 
choked the utterance of her thanks. 

And so the day came when, with fluttering pennons, throb- 
bing hearts, love outpoured, the people of England welcomed the 
Sea Kings' daughter. Many times it has been told how the 
waiting thousands shouted as with one voice, "Alexandra! God 
bless her !" and how her youthful grace and personality magnet- 
ized all eyes and conquered all hearts. Two days later, March 
loth, the Prince of Wales wedded Alexandra of Denmark, in St. 
George's Chapel, in which no royal marriage had been celebrated 
since that of Henry I, in the year 1142. 

Her devotedness as wife and mother, the charities and 
domestic sweetness of her private life at Sandringham, the charm 
of her manners and beauty when seen at public functions, have 
made her dearer to the people with each year of her residence in 
England. The British nation has great cause for thanksgiving 
that Queen Victoria has such a noble and worthy successor in 
Queen Alexandra. 

FASCINATING AND POPULAR. 

Alexandra of Denmark, who now becomes Queen of England 
and Empress of India, is one of the most fascinating and popular 
women in the whole of her husband's vast dominions, which 
embrace one-quarter of the entire population of the known world. 

Wherever the gracious woman, who has now become Queen, 
appears, not only does she become the cynosure of all eyes, but 
more than that. The loveliness of every other woman present 
seems to pale, this, too, in spite of the fact that she is the grand- 
mother of six little ones, and nearer sixty years of age than fifty. 

True, she remains amazingly youthful in appearance, thanks 
not so much to those vulgar devices known as " making up," as 
to those judicious cares that are entirely legitimate. For instance 
daily massage has been employed to help nature in warding off 
wrinkles from the face, while elasticity and elegance of the figure 
have been retained by means of exercise, moderation and diet 



THE NEW QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN. 489 

to tlie same phenomenal degree as in the case of the late Bmpress 
of Austria at the time of her assassination. 

The hair is dressed in precisely the same quiet and charac- 
teristic manner of twenty-five years before, the head retains the 
same dainty poise of a neck so graceful that it conveys the impres- 
sion of a slender stalk supporting a flower, while the eyes 
assuredly have neither dimmed nor changed, flashing as in days 
of yore with fun or mischief or else sweetly appealing in that sort 
of pathetic manner peculiar to people who are hard of hearing 
But it is not this that makes the new Queen of England so fasci- 
nating — that renders her so much more attractive than people of 
immeasurably superior beauty. 

Nor can it be described as magnetism. For magnetism 
implies something that is violent and against which one would 
be inclined to resist. But it is the sweet, gracious and kindly 
manner that converts every man who sets eyes upon her into her 
sworn admirer, and that even disarms the jealousy of women, 
transforming them into her devoted friends. 

IN THE FULL GLARE OF PUBLICITY. 

From the time of her marriage, she has lived almost unceas- 
ingly exposed to that full glare of publicity which beats upon the 
throne, occupying by reason of the seclusion of the late Queen 
the role of first lady of the land, at any rate in a social sense. 
And throughout that entire period she has not made one singly 
mistake. She has known in her own friendly and calm manner the 
people whom it was desirable that she should know. 

She has steered dear of all those acquaintances who might 
have given rise to ill-natured comment. She has never lost her 
head, never been guilty of anything that could be construed as 
partaking of the nature of a blunder, and has by means of the 
atmosphere of ideal refinement which she seems to diffuse around 
her kept within bounds the tendency of modern society to exu- 
berance and vulgarity, and, perfect intact, has presented through 
her married life a picture of the most unruiSled domestic 
happiness. 



490 THE NEW QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

Finally, in an age wliere calumny is so rife and all-prevalent 
tliat not even an angel descended from lieaven would be permitted 
to retain tlie celestial garments unsullied and tlie wings unruf- 
fled, no breath of scandal bas ever tarnished even for a fleeting 
moment the fair name of England's new Queen. Surely w^hen 
one considers all the temptations of one kind and another to 
which a woman in the position of this one, who until now has 
borne the title of Princess of Wales, is exposed, every one intent 
on flattering her and many endeavoring in vain to poison her 
mind against those whom they wish to oust from her favor, the 
fact that she could be without a single mistake to her record indi- 
cates that far from being a dull or foolish person, she must be 
possessed of extraordinary cleverness — the most delightful con- 
trast that it is possible to conceive to her immediate predecessor 
as Princess of Wales. 

EXERTS A WIDE INFLUENCE. 

Quite mistaken is the impression which prevails that she has 
taken no part whatsoever in public life. It was estimated that 
through her personal influence and direct action she has, during 
the near four decades that have elapsed since she first came to 
England as the bride of the then Prince of Wales, been instru- 
mental in securing the subscription and contribution of no less 
than $250,000,000 for charitable and philanthropic enterprises, 
this in itself being an achievement which conveys some idea of 
the usefulness of the royal woman's life and the benefit which she 
has been to the land of her adoption. 

Not merely columns but volumes could be written of her 
innumerable acts of kindness, generosity, and of tender consid- 
aration of others, but it will suf6.ce to relate one incident which 
may serve to illustrate the sympathy which she felt, and whichf 
can only be surpassed by the sympathy which she inspired. 

On one occasion when she was in London an old lady-in- 
waiting of her mother, the late Queen of Denmark, lay dying in 
the royal palace at Copenhagen. She had known the present 
Queen of England since the latter' s infancy and was deeply 



THE NEW QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN. 491 

attached to tier. King Cliristian writes every week to his daughter 

in England, and in one of his letters declared that her one dying 

wish was to speak with her Princess Alex before she expired. 

Alexandra was quite unable to leave England at the time, but 

she spoke a tender and sympathetic message into a phonograph 

and dispatched it to Copenhagen by special messenger. 

Already the dimness of death had veiled the old woman's 

eyes, when the phonograph gave out its message of love and hope, 

and as the last words died away and only the vibrations of the 

phonograph lingered on the air, she sighed happily, and with 

" God bless you, dear," on her lips, passed away to another 

world. 

LIKE THE LATE QUEEN. 

If anything could console the English people for the loss 
which they have sustained lin the person of Victoria, it is the 
knowledge that their new Queen is like her lamented mother-in 
law, a woman of singularly blameless life, of kindly disposition, 
a pattern of all domestic virtues, a woman whose heart goes out 
instinctively to all sorrow and suffering; in one word, a both 
lovely and lovable sovereign. The Queen of England, as she is 
now in truth, soon came to be Queen in the hearts of the 
common people, who knew her for the personal interest she took 
in their welfare. 

She is well fitted for queenly honors. Her beauty, goodness 
and strong character have impressed themselves upon the English 
nation, and from the time she married the heir apparent, she has 
been the idol of the English people, and, after the Queen, has 
been the most popular member of the royal family. The Princess 
was fifty-six years old in December, 1900. She is a splendid type 
of woman. She is a brilliant woman, strictly conservative, of com- 
manding presence and stature. She was a favorite companion of 
the Queen and is very popular. Her character is at once strong 
and sweet, and she shows a kindly consideration for all who 
approach her. 

As a mother she is ideal. Her children were reared and edu- 
cated as befits their station, and their discipline is a matter of com- 



492 THE NEW QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

ment in England. Slie is a fhoronglily practical woman, fond of 
tlie best literature, and an accomplislied musician. 

The new Queen is an earnest, practical, clear-headed person, 
whose main characteristic has been her love of home. The 
abstruse studies, the deep and high reflections on the philosophy 
of politics that the Hmpress Dowager of Germany is so famous for, 
-are quite beyond her range. She does not read serious books 
nor trouble her head about international relations. And yet, 
the part she plays in English social life is that for which nature 
really suits her. 

BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY HOME. 

Her home at Sandringham is admitted by all who know it 
to be a perfect specimen of a country gentleman's home. The 
cottages on the estate are good, and the laborers well looked after. 
The new Queen goes about the neighborhood on foot, or driving 
herself in her pony carriage, and stops to see the cottagers just as 
a lad\^ of the manor should. There is a technical school in the 
village in which many arts and crafts are taught, and she herself 
has taken lessons from its teachers in the same arts that her 
villagers ma}^ learn. The new Queen is an excellent wood carver 
and leather worker by this means. 

The following pretty little story of the new Queen is current 
around Sandringham. During a visit to her country home, she 
called at the house of one of the most valued members of her 
household, with whom was then staying, an aged relative whom 
the Princess had known for many years. This lady, being at the 
time badly crippled by rheumatism, apologized to the Princess, 
saying : 

"I hope you will excuse me. I can't curtesy, but may I kiss 
your hand ? " 

"No, indeed," was the gracious answer. "You shan't do 
that. I will kiss your hand." And she did. 

The Queen from her childhood has been a slave to discipline. 
Her early training in the Danish Court was of the most rigid 
character. It is said that she can sit bolt upright without chang- 



THE NEW QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN. 49.1 

ing an attitude for hours at a time. Slie obeys her prompters in 
court etiquette with the precision and celerity of a trained soldier. 
An illustration of this kind occurred once at the Ascot races. 

The Princess, surrounded by the well-behaved and substan- 
tial element that her real qualities attract, was beside the track 
smiling amiably and making an ideal picture of queenl}^ dignit}^ 
and beauty. Things went well until a nobleman, whose conduct 
demanded a direct cut by the court, had the audacity to press 
forward and seek the recognition of the Princess. 

AVhether absent-mindedness or inability to act her role was 
the cause, Alexandra leaned a trifle forward and was about to 
accord the honor of her salutation, when, quick as a flash, the 
prompter at her elbow whispered : 

"Brect — quick — look across the field." 

ANNOYED BY POMPS AND DISPLAYS. 

Accustomed to discipline, the Princess straightened her lithe 
form erect, and elevating her glass, stared across the field, and 
beyond the nobleman's flushed and enraged face. 

She does not like display or the customary pomps of court. 
The most admired and beloved woman in England, next to the 
late Queen, she courted most what she least obtained — domes- 
ticity. At Marlborough House she cared more for her dogs than 
she cared for formal callers. Borzois, a pet, was a greater favorite 
than any prince of the realm. 

The Princess of Wales had always hated Marlborough House. 
It is associated with sad memories. She loved Sandringham. 
Her eldest boy died there. In London the new Queen felt that 
her life was more or less resericted by court etiquette. The 
annoyance of the admiring crowd was distasteful to her. Above 
everything else, the new Queen is a humane woman. She will 
not change one iota as a Queen from what she has been as a ^ 
Princess. Of all royal women, now that Queen Victoria is gone, 
she is the best beloved. Her simple, unostentatious manners, 
her fondness for simplicity of life, have endeared her to every- 
body she came in contact with. 



494 THE NEW QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

Whenever fhe Queen, as the Princess of Wales, could get 
away from court life nothing pleased her better than a little 
shopping tour, with her daughters, and on these occasions she 
used to find time to personally visit as a Avoman charities that she 
contributed to as a Princess. A pretty story is told about her 
which is absolutely true. Two children in the convalescent ward 
of Guy's Hospital were talking about a kindly sweet woman who 
had come to see them. " The Princess sent me a doll to my hos- 
pital," said one girl. "The nurse told me so. It is a real doll 
from the Princess." 

"Oh, yes," said the other girl, "but the Princess visited our 
hospital and gave a bunch of flowers to ever3^bod3^ Mine was 
tied with a red ribbon that she had worn." 

ONCE A PLAIN DRESSER. 

Further controversy was impossible. It is not generally 
known that in her girlhood the new Queen of England, who has 
for years set the fashions of Europe, was a plain dresser. King 
Christian did not succeed to the throne of Denmark until eight 
months after his daughter was married to the present King. He 
was not a man of wealth. The chief duty of Princess Alexandra 
was to read fairy tales to her little brothers and sisters and to 
inculcate in their youthful minds that good manners are better 
than fine clothes. As a result of overwork she was sent to 
Germany to visit a royal aunt. 

It was there that she first met Albert Edward, and it was 
there that King Edward VII. said that if he could not marry 
Alexandra he would marry no other woman. Voyages across the 
sea did not cure that love. Albert Edward married the woman of 
his choice, and from the moment she set foot on English soil she 
has been, next to the late Queen, the adored woman of the English 
people. 

There is but one sentiment about the new Queen in the land 
of her adoption — affectionate respect. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

New Heir Apparent and the Succession to the Throne. 

pRINCB George Frederick Ernest Albert, the second son of the 
-1 new King and Queen of Great Britain — Prince Albert Victor, 
the eldest son, having died January 14, 1892, at the age of 18 — is 
the heir apparent. Up to his grandmother's death he was Duke 
of York, Barl of Inverness and Baron Killarney. Since his father's 
accession to the throne the Duke of York succeeds to the titles 
and dignity of the Prince of Wales and heir-direct to the throne. 

Comparatively little is known to the world at large about his 
tastes, his daily life and his character. He is a sailor, having 
joined the navy within a few days of attaining his twelfth year, 
and sailors are proverbially modest. Significant of the man is the 
well-authenticated fact that, when he was asked some time ago for 
his favorite motto, he replied: '' England expects every man to do 
his duty." 

WELL RECEIVED IN IRELAND. 

This is very forcibly illustrated by the fact that when it be- 
came advisable, some few years ago, for reasons of state, that he 
should visit Ireland, he lived up to the duty implied in his favorite 
motto, despite the fact that both he and his wife were overwhelmed 
with anonymous letters threatening them with a speedy end if 
they carried out their intention. 

The trip to Ireland was made and proved such a success that 
it was seriously discussed immediately afterward whether it would 
be wise to create the Duke of York Prince of Ireland, and make 
the title a permanent one for the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. 

The present Prince had an early training practically identical 
with that of his elder brother, but even in the nurser}^ Prince 
George made it quite clear that he was determined to be a sailor. 
He was never so happy as when listening to the thrilling stories 

495 



496 THE NEW HEIR APPARENT. 

told Hm by tlie rector of Sandringham, who had been naval in- 
structor to the Duke of Bdinburg, the Prince's uncle and late 
reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. When the boy was 
only seven years old his father had decided that he should be 
trained for the navy, very wisely directing, however, that the 
Prince's general education should not be neglected. 

Prince George entered the navy June 5, 1877, joining the 
Britannia at Dartmouth. He was treated exactly as his fellow 
naval cadets on board the training ship, which he quitted two 
years later, leaving a good record, and having made himself very 
popular both among officers and men. After a nine months' 
cruise he became a full-fledged naval officer. 

Like his father, the present king, he has seen a good deal of 
the world, partly because his calling as a sailor compelled him to, 
but mostly because he is fond of travel. He served on the North 
American station for some time and subsequently in the channel 
• squadron. The future king never lost an opportunity of seeing 
something of the vast British colonies audit is well known that he 
shares all his father's interest in Greater Britain. 

SHORT NAVAL CAREER. 

Physically Prince George always had the best of health until, 
while on a visit to the Duke of Clarence, he contracted a peculiarly 
terrible form of typhoid fever. Scarcely had his parents recovered 
from the keen anxiety which was felt on his behalf before they 
were called upon to lose their eldest son and heir. The prince's 
naval career was necessarily cut short, and he being still single 
there was much discussion as to the succession in the event of his 
death, the other children of the then Prince of Wales being girls. 

There is a good deal of misconception in the popular mind as 
to the line of succession to the British throne. The crown de- 
scends to the nearest heir of the last wearer, be that heir male or 
female — daughters, of course, postponed to sons ; and thus in the 
event of the death of the duke of York and all his children and 
their surviving issue, the crown would pass to the Duchess of Fife, 
and afterward descend from her to her infant daughter, the Lady 



THE NEW HEIR APPARENT. 497 

Alexandra Duff, always supposing that a son was not born to her 
in the meantime. In that case the son would naturally take 
precedence. 

There are certain personages in the succession to the throne 
who would obviously, from motives of public policy, never be al- 
lowed to ascend it — the German Emperor, for instance — but 
foreign nationality or the possession of a foreign crown does not 
in itself vitiate their right. Parliament could, and in the case of 
the throne passing to a foreign sovereign undoubtedly would, bar 
the claim. 

It is sometimes said that such and such a female member of 
the royal family has " renounced" her right of succession. Neither 
the act of settlement, under which the crown devolves, nor any 
other act makes provision for renunciation upon any ground what- 
soever. 

DECIDING UPON HIS TITLE. 

Few people are aware that all the members of the British royal 
family are, constitutionally speaking, commoners until they are 
formally admitted to the house of lords. There was some discus- 
sion as to what title Prince George should be given, and it was 
finally decided that of all the royal dukedoms that of York, which 
dates from the reign of Edward III., would be the most suitable. 
In fact, this title had always been allotted to the second son of the 
sovereign until the traditional custom was broken by Queen Vic- 
toria, who created her second son Duke of Edinburg. 

The engagement and marriage of Prince George and Princess 
Victoria Mary of Teck are still very fresh in the recollection of 
most people. The present king had always desired that his sons 
should, if it were possible, marry princesses who had been brought 
up in the United Kingdom, and he was exceedingly pleased at his 
own son's choice. 

The marriage, which took place July 6, 1893, aroused immense 
enthusiasm. When she married the present Princess was a woman 
young in years but old in sorrow. The whole world knows of the 
death, on the eve of his marriage, of her first affianced, the Duke 



498 THE NEW HEIR APPARENl . 

of Clarence, elder brother of lier present husband. A few years 
later came the death of her mother, the kindly and lamented 
Duchess of Teck, to whom she was more like a sister than a 
daughter, always accompanying her on her many missions of 
mercy. 

The present Princess of Wales was born May 26, 1867, and 
Iher early life was passed in the apartments at Kensington Palace, 
where she and her three brothers were born. Princess May, as she 
was called in the family, instead of Mary, her baptismal name, led 
an uneventful life until she was fifteen years of age, when a few 
years were spent in foreign travel with her parents. The winter 
sojourn was in Florence, where the princess studied under Italian 
masters and developed her artistic tastes. Returning to England, 
the princess clearly showed that her own pleasure really lay in a 
simple and free life in her country home. 

In one respect the new Princess of Wales sets an example to 
the philanthropic women of the world. She is not content with 
merely relieving distress and poverty, but endeavors to seek the 
cause of the evil, and lends her influence to the various schemes 
for remedial social reform. 

BETROTHED TO DUKE OF CLARENCE. 

The circumstances which made her Duchess of York and sub- 
sequently the mother of the heir presumptive to the British throne 
are still fresh in the public mind. The late Queen had sanctioned 
the betrothal of the Duke of Clarence, elder brother of her present 
husband, to Princess Victoria Mary of Teck in December, 1892. 
After a courtship of six weeks death intervened. 

When the Duke of Clarence died the princess returned to her 
parents at White Lodge, taking up the thread of her old life with 
.- a touching sweetness and resignation. All that she asked was to 
be left alone, so that time could heal the wound. But people were 
not disposed to grant her the privacy which she naturally desired, 
and scarcely a month had elapsed before gossip was busy arrang- 
ing a marriage for her with Prince George. 

In due time she regained her spirits and vivacity, although the 



THE NEW HEIR APPARENT. 499 

trial tlirougli wliicli she had passed left her more matured and 
thoughtful in manner. Prince George bided his time, and then 
urged his suit, which resulted in his marriage to the charming and 
popular princess — a marriage that pleased the nation as few royal 
marriages do. It was a love match, not an alliance in the interests 
of the diplomats, and it has remained so. 

Three children are born to the couple — Prince Edward Albert 
June 23, 1894 ; Prince Albert Frederick, December 14, 1895, and 
Princess Victoria Alexandra, April 25, 1897. 

By the death of the Queen the Duke of York, only surviving 
son of the new King of England, becomes one of the world's most 
interesting figures. He steps into the place vacated by his father 
He will be King of England after the death of Edward VII. The 
Duke is short, stocky and thick-necked, like his father. He is a 
naval officer and is known as the " Sailor Prince," 

HEARTY AND AGREEABLE. 

The Duke is good-natured and agreeable. He has a brown 
beard, a ruddy complexion and a clear eye, and is hearty and 
vigorous. The Duke is a great reader. He was named by Queen 
Victoria. He was only Prince George until 1892, when the Queen 
made him Duke of York. As a boy he was the constant companion 
of his elder brother, the Duke of Clarence. The latter was sickly 
and died. The Duke of York then married his brother's fiancee 
Princess Mary of Teck. 

George Frederick is very popular. He is simple and frank 
and much like any other well-favored young Englishman. He is 
bright, brusque and vivacious. He makes a good public speech and 
cuts a fine figure in ballrooms. The future King was brought up 
religiously inclined. When aboard ship he reads prayers every 
morning and conducts the service. 

St. James Gazette is authority for the following in regard to 
the succession to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland. Since 
it was published there have been some deaths and some births in 
the royal family, but none which would materially affect the suc- 
cession. It will also be noticed that the Duke of Edinburgh chose 



500 THE NEW HEIR APPARENT. 

the Duchy of Coburg, and later died, and that his only son, Prince 
Alfred, is also dead. The St. James Gazette says : 

There seems to be a good deal of misconception in the popular 
mind as to the line of succession to the throne of this empire — per- 
haps because it is a subject with which for many years we have 
happily had no occasion to concern ourselves. The lamented death 
of the Duke of Clarence has, however, drawn attention to the later 
genealogy of the royal family, and a certain number of people are 
evidently confused in their minds. 

Now, the crown of England descends, like a barony in fee, to 
the nearest heir of the last wearer, be that heir male or female — 
daughters being, of course, postponed to sons, and if the Duke of 
York were childless, the crown would pass to the Duchess of Fife, 
and afterward descend from her to her daughter, the lady Alexandra 
Duff, always supposing that a son was not born to her in the mean- 
time. In that case the son w^ould naturally take precedence. We 
might then witness the curious sight of a Marquis of Macduff 
stepping direct from the Guards or the benches of the House of 
Commons to the throne. 

THE SUCCESSION DEFINED. 

So surprising is the ignorance of many people on this subject 
that there is even a notion that, failing Prince George, the Duke 
of Edinburgh would have succeeded to the throne. But there are 
six lives between the Duke of Edinburgh and the crown of England. 
In view of present interest in the succession, the following com- 
plete list of every possible heir to the throne claiming through 
George III may be useful. There are other heirs descending from 
earlier monarchs of the house of Brunswick, but they are so ex- 
ceedingly remote that it is not worth while to trace them. 

There are certain personages in the list who would obviously, 
from motives of public policy, never be allowed to succeed — for ex- 
ample, the German Emperor; but foreign nationality, or the pos- 
session of a foreign crown, does not of itself vitiate right. Parlia- 
ment could, and in the case of the throne passing to a foreign 
sovereign, undoubtedly would, bar their claim. 



THE NEW HEIR APPARENT. 501 

The Prince of Wales, it will be remembered, became upon liis 
father's death, heir presumptive to the Duchy of Coburg: but, to 
avoid the inconvenience of a potential British monarch being 
also the heir of a continental reigning sovereign, he renounced 
his rights in Coburg in favor of his next brother. It is sometimes 
said that such and such a female member of the royal family has 
"renounced" her rights of succession. Upon that we can only say 
that neither the Act of Settlement, under which the crown devolves, 
nor any other act, makes provision for renunciation upon any 
pretext whatsoever. 

DESCENDANTS OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 

1. The Prince of Wales (son), 

2. Prince George (grandson). 

3. Duchess of Fife (granddaughter). 

4. The Lady Alexander Duff (great-granddaughter). 

5. Princess Victoria of Wales (granddaughter). 

6. Princess Maud of Wales (granddaughter). 

7. The Duke of Edinburgh (son). 

8. Prince Alfred of Edinburgh (grandson). 

9. Princess Marie of Edinburgh (granddaughter). 

10. Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh (granddaughter). 

11. Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh (granddaughter). 

12. Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh (granddaughter). 

13. The Duke of Connaught (son). 

14. Prince Arthur of Connaught (grandson). 

15. Princess Margaret of Connaught (granddaughter). 

16. Princess Victoria Patricia of Connaught (granddaughter). 

17. The Duke of Albany (grandson). 

18. Princess Alice of Albany (granddaughter). 

19. The Empress Frederick of Germany (daughter). 

20. The German Emperor (grandson). 

21. The Crown Prince of Prussia (great-grandson). 

22. Prince William Frederick of Prussia (great-grandson). 

23. Prince Adalbert of Prussia (great-grandson). 

24. Prince August of Prussia (great-grandson). 



f;02 THE NEW HEIR APPARENT. 

25. Prince Oscar of Prussia (great-grandson). 

26. Prince Joactim Franz Humbert of Prussia (great-grandson). 

27. Prince Henry of Prussia (grandson). 

28. Prince Waldemar of Prussia (great-grandson). 

29. Tlie Hereditary Princess of Saxe-Meiningen (granddaughter). 

30. Princess Fedora of Saxe-Meiningen (great-granddaughter). 

31. Princess Frederika of Prussia (granddaughter). 

32. The Crown Princess of Greece (granddaughter). 

33. Prince George of Greece (great-grandson). 

34. Princess Margaretta of Prussia (granddaughter). 

35. The Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse (grandson). 

36. Princess Louise of Battenberg (granddaughter). 

37. Princess Victoria Alice of Battenberg (great-granddaughter). 

38. Princess Louise Alexandra of Battenberg (great-granddaughter). 

39. The Grand Duchess Sergius of Russia (granddaughter). 

40. Princess Henry of Prussia (wife of No. 27) (granddaughter). 

41. Princess Victoria iVlice Helena of Hesse (granddaughter). 

42. Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (daughter). 

43. Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein (grandson). 

44. Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein (grandson). 

45. Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (granddaughter). 

46. Princess Franziska of Schleswig-Holstein (granddaughter). 

47. The Marchioness of Lome (daughter). 

48. Princess Beatrice (Princess Henry of Battenberg) (daughter). 

49. Prince Alexander Albert of Battenberg (grandson). 

50. Prince Leopold of Battenberg (grandson). 

51. Prince Donald of Battenberg (grandson). 

52. Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (granddaughter). 

DESCENDANTS OF KING GEORGE III. 

53. The Duke of Cumberland (great-grandson). 

54. Prince George of Cumberland (great-great-grandson). 

55. Prince Christian of Cumberland (great-great-grandson.) 

56. Prince Ernest of Cumberland (great-great-grandson). 

57. Princess May of Cumberland (great-great-granddaughter). 

58. Princess Alexandra of Cumberland (great-great-granddaughter). 



THE NEW HEIR APPARENT. 



503 



59. Princess Olga of Cumberland (great-great-granddaughter). 

60. Princess Frederica of Hanover (Baroness von Pawel Rammin- 

gen) (great-granddaugliter). 

61. Princess Mary Brnestina of Hanover (great-granddaughter). 

62. The Duke of Cambridge (grandson). 

63. The Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (granddaughter). 

64. The Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg (great-grandson). 

65. Prince Frederick George of Mecklenburg (great-grandson). i 

66. Princess Victoria Mary of Mecklenburg (great-granddaughter). 

67. Princess Augusta of Mecklenburg (great-granddaughter). 

68. The Duchess of Teck (granddaughter). 

69. Prince Adolphus of Teck (great-grandson). 

70. Prince Francis of Teck (great-grandson). 

71. Prince Alexander of Teck (great-gi andson). 

72. Princess May (great-granddaughter), now wife of Prince George, 

the heir apparent. 

THE QUEEN'S PREDECESSORS. 



Name. 



Egbert 

Ethel wulf .... 

(Ethelbald 

(Ethelbert 

Ethelred 

Alfred 

Edward, the Elder . . 

Athelstan 

Edmund 

Edred 

Edwy 

Edgar 

Edward the Martyr 
Ethelred II. .... . 

Edmund Ironside. . . 

Canute 

Harold I 

Hardicanute 

Edward the Confessor 
Harold II 



Saxons and Danes. 



First King of All England 

Son of Egbert 

Son of Ethelwulf 

Second son of Ethelwulf . 
Third son of Ethelwulf . 
Fourth son of Ethelwulf . 

Son of Alfred 

Eldest son of Edward . . 
Brother of Athalstan . . . 
Brother of Edmund . . . 

Son of Edmund 

Second son of Edmund . 

Son of Edgar 

Half brother of Edward . 
Eldest son of Ethelred . . 
By conquest and election . 

Son of Canute 

Another son of Canute . . 
Son of Ethelred IT. ... 
Brother-in-law of Edward 



827 

839 

858 

858 

866 

871 

901 

925 

940 

946 

955 

958 

975 

979 

1016 

1017 

1035 

1040 

1042 

1066 



Died. 





be 
< 


839 





858 


— 


860 


— 


866 


— . 


871 


— . 


901 


52 


925 


46 


940 


— 


946 


23 


955 


— 


958 


20 


975 


31 


979 


17 


1016 


— 


1016 


28 


1035 


40 


1040 


— 


1042 


— 


1066 


64 


1066 


— 



504 



THE NEW HEIR APPARENT. 



Name. 



William I. . 
William II. . 
Henry I. . . 
Stephen . . 

Henry II. . 
Richard I. . 
John . . . . 
Henry III. . 
Edward I. 
Edward II. . 
Edward III, 
Richard II. . 

Henry IV. . 
Henry V. . 
Henry VI. . 

Edward IV. 
Edward V. , 
Richard III. 

Henry VII. 
Henry VIII 
Edward VI. 
Mary I. . . 

Elizabeth . . 

James I. . . 
Charles I. . 



Commonwealth 



Charles II. . 
James II. . . 
William III. 
and 
Mary II. . . 
Anne . . . 

George I. . 
George II. . 
George III. 
George IV. 
William IV. 
Victoria . . 



Saxons and Danes. 



The Norman Conquerors. 

By conquest 

Third son of William I 

Youngest son of William I . . . . 
Grandson of William I 



The Plantagenets. 

Grandson of Henry I 

Eldest surviving son of Henry II . . 
Sixth and youngest son of Henry II. 

Eldest son of John 

Eldest son of Henry III 

Eldest surviving son of Edward I . . 

Eldest son of Edward II 

Grandson of Edward III 



The House of Lancaster. 

Grandson of Edward III 

Eldest son of Edward IV 

Son of Henry V. (died 1471) . . . 



The House of York. 
Great great grandson of Edward III. 

Eldest son of Edward IV 

Younger brother of Edward IV . . . 



The House of Tudor. 

Descended from Edward III 

Only surviving son of Henry VII . . . 
Son of Henry VIII. by Jane Seymour . . 
Daughter of Henry VIII. by Katherine of 

Arragon. 
Daughter of Henry VIII by Anne Boleyn. 

The House of Stuart. 

Descended from Henry VII 

Surviving son of James I 

f Commonwealth proclaimed May 19, 1649 
< Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector . . . 
( Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector. . . 

The Stuarts Restored. 

Eldest son of Charles I 

Second son of Charles I 

Grandson of Charles I 



Eldest daughter of James II. . . 
Second daughter of James II . . . 

The House of Hanover. 

Great grandson of James I 

Only son of George I 

Grandson of George II 

Eldest son of George III 

Third son of George III 

Niece of William IV 



1066 
1087 
1100 
1135 



1154 
1189 
1199 
1216 
1272 
1307 
1327 
1377 



1399 
1413 
1422 



1461 
1483 
1483 



1485 
1509 
1547 

1553 

1558 



1603 
162o 
1649 
1653 
1658 



1660 
1685 



1689 



1702 



1714 
1727 
1760 
1820 
1830 
1837 





^ 


Died. 


5« 
< 


1087 


21 


1100 


43 


1135 


67 


1154 


49 


1189 


56 


1199 


42 


1216 


51 


1272 


65 


1307 


67 


1327 


43 


1377 


65 


* Dep. 1399 


33 


1413 


46 


1422 


34 


* Dep. 1461 


49 


1483 


41 


1483 


12 


1485 


33 


1509 


52 


1547 


55 


1553 


16 


1558 


42 


1603 


69 


1625 


58 


fBeh. 1649 


48 


59 


— 


1685 


54 


D1688,d.l701 


68 


1702 


51 


1694 


32 


1714 


49 


1727 


67 


1760 


77 


1820 


82 


1830 


68 


1837 


72 


1901 


81 



* Deposed, t Beheaded. 



THE NEW HEIR APPARENT. 



505 



LONGEST KNOWN REIGNS. 



Alfonso I 

Louis IV 

Ernest 

Frederick III 

Henry 

Frederick Augustus III, 

James I 

Charles II 

Victoria 



King of Portugal . . 
King of France . . . 
Duke of Altenberg . 
Count of Hapsburgh 
Marquis of Meissen 
Elector and King of 

Saxony 

King of Aragon . . 
Duke of Lorraine . . 
Queen of England . 



DATES OF 
REIGN. 



1112-1185 
1643-1715 
1605—1675 
1424—1493 

1221—1288 

1763—1827 
1213—1276 
1545—1608 
1837—1900 



NO. OF YEARS. 



73 years (the longest known). 
72 years. 
70 years. 
69 years. 
67 years. 

64 years. 
63 years. 

63 years. 

64 years. 



INCOME OF SOVEREIGN AND CHILDREN. 

Parliament will probably rearrange the civil list of tbe royal 
family. The income of the sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland 
and certain members of the royal family is derived from the funds 
of the kingdom and from private sources. The following table 
shows the civil list during the last years of the Victorian reign : 
The Queen — Annually granted by Parliament, .... ^385,000 

231,260 

44,240 

13,200 

60,000 

40,000 

37,000 

61,243 

10,000 

10,000 

25,000 

6,000 

6,000 

6,000 

3,000 

3,000 

12,000 

6,000 



Salaries of household, . 

For pensions to servants, 

For bounty and alms, . 

Revenue from the Duchy of Lancaster 
Prince of Wales — Annual allowance, . . , 

For support of children, 

From Duchy of Cornwall, 
Princess of Wales — Annual allowance, 
Duke of Edinburgh — Annual allowance, . 
Duke of Connaught — Annual allowance, . 
Empress Victoria of Germany, annuity, . 
Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, 
Duchess of Argyll (Princess Louise), annuity, 
Princess Henry of Battenberg, annuity, . 
Grand Duchess of Mecklenberg-Strelitz, annuity, 
Duke of Cambridge, annuity, ..... 
Princess Helena of Waldeck, annuity, . . 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Careers of Princes of Wales. 

THE announcement tliat the Duke of Cornwall, heir apparent 
to the throne of Great Britain, was not likely to receive the 
title of Prince of WalCvS, was the first intimation to very many 
that this principality of less than 7500 square miles in area and 
of a population not numbering 2,000,000 souls, is not a hereditary 
apanage of the eldest son of England's reigning house. 

As a matter of fact, the title was Welsh, not English, in its 
beginnings, and was in 1284 transferred to a royal scion of the 
dominant country by a purely arbitrary act. Since that time 
twenty-three kings have sat upon the throne of England, only 
eleven of whom had borne the title of Prince of Wales. Edward 
III., Henry VI. and Edward VI. were all heirs apparent, yet did 
not wear the title of the principality. Six royal princes who had 
been so honored did not live to be enrolled among the English 
kings. 

If, in brief, the title has usually been borne by the eldest son 
of the reigning house it is due to a custom that is little more than 
a coincidence. The principality was designed to form an apanage 
of a younger son. It is not hereditary, but must be conferred 
anew. 

There were Princes of Wales before there were Kings of 
England. When England was Britain and Julius Caesar was 
encamped there with his Roman legions the sons of the Welsh 
kings, though little more than native chiefs, were known by the 
title now borne by King Edward VII. And when the first of 
England's Edwards invaded Wales at the close of the thirteenth 
century it was Llewellyn, prince of his land who opposed him 
and was killed in the struggle. 

In that year, 1284, the title was first borne by an English prince. 
The conquering Edward found himself lord of a disaffected 
country, whose mountainous character gave every aid to a des- 
506 



CAREERS OF PRINCES OF WALES. 507 

perate people. To pacify them lie promised tliat tliey sHould be 
ruled by a native Welshman, and then, as soon as arms had been 
laid by, proclaimed as the new prince, his son Edward, who had 
been born two days before at the castle of Caernarvon. Caernar- 
von was in Wales, the country was disarmed, the wily conqueror's 
troops were massed in the town — and the matter was allowed to 
stand undisputed. 

This Edward of Caernarvon, the first of the English Princes 
of Wales, was crowned as Edward II. when 23. For twenty years 
he misruled his country, pandering to the rapacity of such vicious 
favorites as Piers Gaveston, and was then, with the active con- 
nivance of his mother, deposed, imprisoned, forced to resign the 
Clown, and eventually murdered, while another Edward, not a 
Prince of Wales, succeeded to the kingdom. 

MANY VIOLENT DEATHS. 

The violent death of the first incumbent of the title has 
fuund a strange counterpart in the fate of five others of the seven- 
teen who have followed him in the holding of the honor. Four 
were murdered, the first Charles was beheaded. Henry VIII. and 
Charles II. died of the effects of dissipated lives. George III. 
died insane, death came suddenly to four who lay ill but a few 
hotirs — out of all the seventeen only the Black Prince, Henry V. 
and George IV. died " natural" deaths. 

None has borne the title of Prince of Wales more nobly than 
did the "Black Prince." The name by which he is best known 
arose from the color of his armor, but not only was he Prince of 
Wales, but also Duke of Cornwall, the first of the name. His 
father, Edward III., whom Macaulay calls "the greatest warrior 
who ever sat upon the English throne," had carried the banner of 
St. George far beyond the Pyrenees and Alps, and ever in the van 
rode the Prince of Wales. At Crecy, when but sixteen, he led 
8000 Englishmen to victory against 60,000 Frenchmen, taking 
prisoner the aged John, King of Bohemia, from whom he thus 
won the right to wear as his princely crest the three ostrich 
plumes with the motto " Ich Dien "—" I serve." 



508 CAREERS OF PRINCES OF WALES. 

Ten years later he won Poitiers, and, leading tlie Bnglish 
forces into Spain, won battle after battle sontb of the Bbro. At 
last, exhausted by a life of warfare and exposure, he died of con- 
sumption, just a year before the death of Edward III. would have 
made him king. 

Richard II. succeeded to the throne. As prince he had been 
weak, frivolous and selfish ; as king he lived magnificently, but 
with no regard to his duties. His household consisted of 10,000 
persons, his rapacit}^ led to a disordered kingdom. His death 
was violent. Lured to one of the castles in the Wales whose 
prince he had been, he was made prisoner by the disaffected 
nobles, imprisoned for years and finally starved to death. 

HANDSOME HARRY. 

" Harry of Monmouth " next held the Welsh title. Hand- 
some and courageous, he was the idol of the English. His mili- 
tary career, which was to add Agincourt to the long list of 
England's victories, began when he was but 15, when he fought 
by the side of his father lin the battle of Shrewsbury. Shakes- 
peare has described the young manhood of "Prince Hal " as wild 
and dissipated, but when the Prince of Wales had become the 
King of England he assumed and maintained a character both 
noble and kingly. 

It is of this Henry Prince of Wales that the story is told of 
his having struck Chief Justice Gascoign with his sword for 
administering their dues to some of the wild young noble's 
wilder friends. For this the Justice first imprisoned the son, and 
then carried the news to the father. Henry IV. laughed at the 
message. " I am happy, indeed," said he, "to have a magistrate 
who dares to enforce the law and a son who is willing to submit 
to it." 

Three Edwards succeeded Henry V. to the title of Prince of 
Wales. The first, only son of Henry VI., was stabbed to death by 
Richard of Gloucester. Edward V., called " Edward of the 
Sanctuary," because born in the precincts of the Abbey of West- 
minster, ended a princehood of twelve years with a reign of but 



carei':rs of princes of wales. 509 

ten weeks, and again it was Ricliarcl of Gloucester through whom 
death came. Edward and his jAounger brother Richard were sent 
to the Tower under pretense of awaiting the coronation in safety. 
There they were smothered. 

Retribution came to this hunch-backed Richard a year later 
(1484) when his only son, whom he had made Prince of Wales as 
as soon as he himself had been proclaimed King, died of fever 
after an illness of six days. Sudden death also came to the next 
incumbent, Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII. His youth had 
been one of brilliant promise, but the plague of 1502 invaded the 
precincts of Ludlow Castle, and put a period to the hopes of the 
nation. 

Henry, his younger brother, succeeded him in the title of 
Prince of Wales. In the five years of his princehood there was 
no warning of the selfish, tyrannical, sensual King he was to 
become as the eighth of the name. Henry the Prince was hand- 
some, affable, studious, and an adept in all manly exercises. 
Henry the King died before his time, worn out by the dissipa- 
tions of a vicious life. 

FIRST OF THE STUARTS. 

Henry VIII. died in 1547. Not till 1603, when James L, 
the first of the Stuarts, had ascended the throne, does the title of 
Prince of Wales reappear. The two sons of this monarch both 
had the honor coi^ferred upon them. Henry, the eldest, died in 
1612, when his father's reign was at its height, and in the same 
year the title was given to Charles, the younger son, who lived 
to succeed as Charles I. Before his accession, however this 
handsome and courteous prince was sent to Madrid to sue for the 
hand of the Infanta Maria. The chronicles of the day tell much 
of the courtliness of the prince's manner, and of the marvelous and 
extravagant elegance of his apparel, changed almost hourly and no 
suit worn twice, but they also relate that his mission was unsuc- 
cessful, old Aberwaithe quaintly adding, "Fortunately for the 
Spanish lady." 

It was this prince, so honorable in all purely personal rela- 



510 CAREERS OF PRINCES OF WALES. 

tions, wiio, as King, was stigmatized as " untrutliful," as 
"unfaithful to liis office," and whose misrule ended in 1649 ^^ 
the scaffold before the Royal Palace of Whitehall. 

Charles, his son, was a Prince of Wales without a country. 
Wandering through the corrupt courts of Europe, begging aid 
through which the "Protector" Cromwell might be driven from 
the government he had seized, young Charles had every chance 
to perfect himself in the school of vice in which the licentious 
Duke of Buckingham had first introduced him. He was brilliant 
and accomplished, possessed great abilities, but was too indolent 
to apply himself He was ready for any forlorn hope by which 
he might win back his kingdom, and yet more ready for any 
amour in which danger was wedded to romance. 

NOTORIOUS CHARLES II. 

Till he was thirty this Prince of Wales lived in an atmos- 
phere of dissimulation. As Charles II. was welcomed back home 
with a pageant seldom surpassed in Bnglish history, and he gave 
to his country a reign that was far from successful. Posterity 
knows him by Rochester's pungent epitaph : — 

" Here lies our sovereign Lord, the King, 
Whose word no man relies on : 
Who never said a foolish thing, 
And never did a wise one," 

From 1685 to 1727 the title of Prince of Wales again disap- 
peared from the rolls of British royalty. Then, when George I. 
came over from Hanover, his son George had the title conferred 
upon him. Of the King, George II. but little may be said ; of 
George, Prince of Wales, nothing. His sons, 'Frederick and 
George, held the title in succession. The first was killed by a 
blow from a cricket ball nine years before the throne could have 
been his, George lived to become George HI., to reign longer 
than an}^ other British monarch save Victoria, and at last to die 
insane. 

An interesting memorial of this Prince George remains in 



CAREERS OF PRINCES OF WALES. 611 

this country, in the princely crest yet to be seen over the pulpit 
canopy of old St. Paul's Chapel, at the corner of Broadway and 
Vesey streets, New York. While New York was still a loyal 
British colony the three plumes were carved and placed there, 
and there they stood secure because forgotten while the mob of 
1775 ransacked the city, destroying every other vestige of Bnglish 
rule. Nowhere else in the country is the insignia of the Prince 
of Wales to be found in its royal significance. 

LED A LIFE OF PLEASURE. 

George once more followed George, the new prince being one 
day to be known as the fourth of that name. Ten years before 
his accession to the throne, this Prince of W^ales was declared 
regent, owing to his father's mental incapacity. He was a young 
man of marked beauty, tall and well built, with an attractive face 
and polished manners. But his looks, his usefulness, the esteem 
of his people, all were sacrificed to licentious pleasures. To dissi- 
pation he added insubordination, thwarting the government at 
ever}^ turn, and assiduously cultivating the leaders of the oppo- 
sition. 

While still Prince of Wales, he had married Caroline, Prin- 
cess of Brunswick, almost immediately^ deserting her on charges 
of infidelit}', which were never proved. At his accession he intro- 
duced a bill into Parliament, dissolving the marriage, but popular 
indignation was so great that he withdrew the rec[uest. He died 
in 1830. 

Bleven 3^ears later the late holder of the title was born. 
He is the sixth Edward to have held the title, though but three of 
these have lived to succeed to the throne. No name, indeed, is 
more closely associated with, the Welsh principality. Edward I. 
brought the title into the English court, Edward II. first beld it, 
Edward the Black Prince made it most notable, two Edwards were 
slain because of the title, anotber died three months after receiv- 
ing it, and it is Edward VII. who has spread its fame most widely 
over the world. Long familiarly known as the Prince of Wales, 
lie h-as given the title a new dignity and lustre. 



51:^ CAREERS OF PRINCES OF WALES. 

ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS WHO HAVE BORNE THE 
TITLE OF PRINCE OF WALES. 

Edward II. Reigned 1307-1327 Murdered 

Richard II, 1377-1399 Murdered 

Henry V, 1413-1422 Dysentery 

Edward V, 1483 Murdered 

Henry VIII, 1509-1547 Dissipation 

Charles I, 1625-1649 Beheaded 

Charles II, 1660-1685 Apoplexy 

George II, 1727-1760 Heart Disease 

George III, 1760-1820 Mental Derangement 

George IV, 1820-1830 Heart Failure 

Edward VII, 1901—? 

PRINCES OF WALES NOT SUCCEEDING TO THE THRONE. 

Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III Died, 1376 

Edward, son of Henry VI Murdered, 1471 

Edward, son of Richard IIL Fever, 1484 

Arthur, son of Henry VII Plague, 1502 

Henry, son of James I Fever, 1612 

Frederick, son of George II Accidental Death, 1751 

ENGLISH MONARCHS WHO HAVE NOT BORNE 
THE TITLE OF PRINCE OF WALES. 

*Edward III Richard III James II 

*Henry IV Henry VII William III 

Henry VI *Edward VI George I 

Edward IV James I William IV 
*Heir-apparent. 

A writer who has ever}^ facility for becoming acquainted with 
the Royal Family and British government comments as follows : 

" The Victorian era is gone forever. It is indelibly asso- 
ciated with the character of a good woman. Long before this 
letter reaches America everything that can be said about the 
Queen will have been said and said well. More than once or 
twice I have seen the tears standing in the eyes of men as they 
watched Her Majesty in recent years driving through the streets 
of London on the rare occasion of her visits to the metropolis. 



CAREERS OF PRINCES OF WALES. 618 

" I have seen no tears on tier death. I do not think the news- 
papers are accurate in saying that the nation is overwhelmed 
with grief. The Queen's death, at eighty-two years of age, was 
expected. Full of years and honor, every additional day that we 
lived under Victoria was a day to the good. When the end came 
men mourned truly, but mourning for the inevitable is a different 
thing from mourning for an unexpected blow or the removal of 
of one whose life and career are yet to come. 

"There is no doubt that the conductors of the newspapers 

think they fulfill a popular demand in describing outward and 

visible signs of grief that do not really exist. The grief is there, 

and will remain. The real expression of sorrow for the Queen, 

however, does not find vent in tears. We know that her court was 

pure ; that she herself was a moniiment of permanent efficiency ; 

that she never made a mistake, never spared herself, and was a 

mother to us all. As time passes we shall miss her more and 

more 

THE SUBJECT OF PETTY CRITICSMS. 

" King Edward VII. held his first council on Wednesda}^, 
January 30th. I speak of the King as I know him. The fierce 
light that beats upon the new sovereign reveals a not unworthy 
successor. In one respect his Majesty is the most unfortunate 
man in England. For long years he has been libeled incessantly 
and malignantly. Silence was imposed on him by reasons of 
State. 

"As the Prince of Wales he was the only subject of the 
Queen who could not reply when he was attacked. When he 
patronized the drama, for the neglect of which the Queen was 
persistently blamed, he was described as a trifler, who found in 
the society of play actors relief from the tedium of a wasted life. 
When he encouraged the greatest of our national sports, he was 
depicted as a profligate, compared with George IV., and held up 
to public contumely. 

"If he did not lavish money he did not possess, he was 
charged with stinginess, but when he made an outlay on a church 

at Sandringham or a ball at Marlborough House, he was a 

33 



514 CAREERS OF PRINCES OF WALES. 

Spendthrift. Friendsliips witli bad men upon whom he never set 
eyes were attributed to him without the possibility of denial. If 
he played a game of cards he was a gambler. Although this 
campaign of continuous and malignant libel dogged his footsteps 
with the persistency of bloodhounds on the track of a criminal, 
the good sense of the British public succeeded in diagnosing the 
manly and unselfish goodness of Edward VII. Whatever his 
faults, he is a man — and one of the kindest hearts among us. 

"Irreparable as is the loss which the nation and the empire 
have suffered in their bereavement, the King of England to-day 
brings new hope to the race. For more than a generation the 
monarch has necessarily avoided her capital city. Monarchy, 
which has been for too long a term of abstraction, is now a 
reality to the multitude. Royal pageants have long been 
renounced, except on the rarest occasions. No stimulus to the 
imagination of democracy has been contributed by the court. 

COURT NOT GIVEN TO GAYETY. 

"State visits to the opera, to theatres, and State appearances 
at gala times have also been abandoned for many years by the 
Court of St. James. Music, art, literature, of late years, have 
received none of the support that comes from the presence of a 
brilliant court in the metropolis of the nation. Traders and 
wage-earners who now suffer under the heavy burden of our 
national sorrow may feel assured that under the King no effort 
will be spared to stimulate the arts and industries of Britain by 
the example, the protection and the patronage of a patriotic and 
efficient throne. The court has long been costly and invisible, 
owing to circumstances beyond the control of anyone. 

" The King, however, has kept in close touch with all classes 
of his subjects. A better judge of character does not live, and if 
his knowledge is acquired from men rather than from books, his 
subjects will be none the worse for that. The King is a close 
student of contemporary history. He is acquainted with all the 
Ambassadors and chief colonial Governors, the generals and 
admirals of the day. His knowledge of imperial politics and of 



CAREERS OF PRINCES OF WALES. • 616 

the social influences that govern the history of our time is excelled 
by that of no Englishman. His mind is nimble ; he is quick in 
seeing and seizing a point. It is questionable whether the late 
Lord Randolph Churchill or the Earl of Rosebery himself pos- 
sesses a nimbler or quicker intellect than the King. 

"I remember the late Baron Ferdinand Rothschild telling 
me that he considered the Prince's quickness of mind superior to 
that of the two statesmen referred to. The friendly relations 
established between the Czar and Great Britain are largely due to 
the efforts of King Edward VII., first at Livadia and afterwards at 
St. Petersburg on the occasion of the death of Alexander III. No 
ambassador could have placed the relations between the two 
countries on the footing that has prevailed since the Czar Nicholas 
came to the throne. England has continued to reap the benefits 
of these relations during the South African war. 

NO CHANGE OF FOREIGN RELATIONS. 

" There is no reason to doubt that the King will stand as 
firmly for his own country as the Kaiser, his nephew, has stood 
for Germany. But since the policy of Britain is to hold the 
seas free for the trafiic of all mankind, British relations with 
foreign Powers will undergo no change under a new reign. 
Imperial sympathies will be fostered at home and in the colonies 
by a King who not only understands and trusts democracy, but 
likes it. Art, letters, music, and the drama will acquire fresh 
impulses from one who has always shown himself conspicuously 
sympathetic with the beauty and refinement of life. The King is 
one of the few Englishmen who shows his resentment when music 
is interrupted by conversation. 

The friendless, the suffering, and the destitute are not likely 
to be forgotten by the man who, as a member of the Ro3^al Com- 
mission for the Housing of the Poor, himself investigated in a 
hundred quarters the actual condition of the people in the slums, 
and who has more recently given a new lease of life to the volun- 
tary hospitals of London. Since Lord Granville and Laurence 
Oliphant died the King has made few intimate friends. Thousands 



516 CAREERS OF PRINCES OF WALES. 

of acquaintances are his, but loneliness is his lot, as it must be 
tbe lot of all those who occupy the English throne. There are 
many things which the King is obliged to do which the outside 
world calls pleasure and amusements. These things are anything 
but a source of pleasure or amusement to the King, although his 
position demands that he should every year go through a certain 
round of social duties which constantly bore him. 

"The more serious occupations of his life often receive no 
record in the public press, while the things which are accounted 
pleasures not seldom partake of the character of irksome and 
even distasteful duties. The character, capacity and habits of the 
King may be inferred from his immense vigor at a time of life 
when every one who has lived merely a life of pleasure would be 
seeking repose and indulging in indolent renunciation of avoid- 
able duties. 

AN ADMIRER OF GLADSTONE. 

"Lord Salisbury's absence from Osborne and the very 
guarded manner in which, in his speech in the House of Lords he 
referred to the ' hope ' with which the country regarded the future 
reign of Edward VII., have excited the keenest interest and com- 
ment in London society. Few people consider that the Premier- 
ship will long remain in the hands of Lord Salisbury. There is, 
indeed, reason to believe that the King, whose personal respect 
and affection for Mr. Gladstone were unobtrusively shown in 
many ways, is not on terms of intimacy or affection with Lord 
Salisbury. 

" The King is a great advocate of efficiency, and Lord Salis- 
bury, who is a past master in the art of letting things drift, 
would not be likely to have so easy a time under the new mon- 
arch as under Queen Victoria, whose retired life and great age 
compelled her to accept the views of her Prime Minister on such 
a question as imperial defense without serious criticism. 

"There is good reason to believe that the King, who is 
punctual and efficient in the performance of his own duties, will 
give an immense impulse to the demand for efficiency in the pub- 



CAREERS OF PRINCES OF WALES. 617 

lie services. It is time that a strong will were exerted. At the 
present time in England we have 90,000 soldiers who are too 
voting and immature to take the field, but who cost as much as 
efiicient fighting men, and our two great fleets are unready 
for war service. Lord Charles Beresford is of opinion that the 
navy and army and public service must either be brought into a 
state of efficiency without further delay, or Great Britain will be 
consigned to the position of a second or third rate Power without 
more ado. 

''Great and drastic changes are in the air — changes that were 
expected to be made on the dissolution of the last Parliament, 
but which can no longer be relegated to the future, and Bngland 
will begin a new stage in her career." 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The New King and His Royal Mother. 

INTENSE admiration of King Edward VII. as man, husband 
father and prince is the keynote struck by "A Member of the 
Royal Household" in a work entitled the "Private Life of King 
Edward VII. (Prince of Wales)." 

" The Prince's character," he says, "had originally a strong 
tinge of quick temper, which he inherited from his Hanoverian 
ancestors ; but his courtesy and tact, and the self-control which 
he has taught himself to exercise, have mastered this hereditary 
failing, and now he is notably slow to act when put out or annoyed, 
and makes a point of considering ever}^ side of a question before 
regarding his own. In speech he is quick and impulsive, and 
this trait often leads him to give direct orders to servants and 
others of his household, instead of waiting to put the somewhat 
complicated machinery of his establishment into motion. 

"One particularly notable and noble attribute is his — he has 
never been known to bear a grudge or to do the proverbial ill turn 
to anybody. It is difficult to say whether the Prince is at his best 
among the people or in society. By the people on his own estate 
and by the members of his household, the Prince is positively 
adored. He goes among the country people in the simplest 
possible way. 

"The Prince's popularity is as great in Paris as it is in his 
own country. The Prince's attitude toward France since that 
country became a republic has often been commented on, but he, 
being one of the most broadminded of men, maintains that every 
country has a right to choose its own form of government. 

"From the first the Prince of Wales determined that Sand- 

ringham should be his home in the real English sense of the 

word. If his life in Norfolk is simple and less tied by etiquette 

than in London, his personal responsibilities are greater and are 

518 



NEW KING AND HIS MOTHER. 61!) 

never shirked. The Prince is practically his own agent and 
nothing happens on the estate without his hearing and inquiring 
about it. A Sandringham ball is always opened with a quadrille, 
in which the royalties and the house party take the leading part. 
The Prince is a most energetic partner and always 'dances to the 
tune,' as he himself expresses it. 

''Dancing over, an adjournment is made by the Prince to 
the billiard and smoking rooms. The smoking room is reached 
through the corridor, which leads on to the bowling alley, which 
was built a few years ago by the Prince after the best American 
models. The Prince is devoted to bowls." 

Dealing with "The Prince at Marlborough House," the 
author says : 

"One corner of the grounds is sacred to the memory of four 
of the Princess' pets, each of which sleeps beneath a tiny tomb- 
stone. Every one of the Prince's days in London is fully mapped 
out. He believes firmly in early rising, and not infrequently is 
to be found taking a brisk stroll in St. James' or the Green Park 
soon after eight in the morning." 

HE MARRIED FROM CHOICE. 

Referring to the domestic life of the Prince, the author 

says : 

" The Prince's marriage was a romance savoring of the most 
poetical traditions of the Middle Ages. Before the Prince Con- 
sort's death it had been almost settled between him and the 
Queen that the Prince of Wales should seek a wife among the 
German princesses. A young German officer, who was a friend 
of the Prince, informed His Royal Highness one day that he was 
engaged to be married, and that he would like to show him the 
portrait of his bride-elect. 

"He gave the Prince a photograph of a beautiful young 
girl, wearing the plainest of white muslin frocks, with her hair 
brushed back from her brow and a narrow black velvet ribbon 
tied round her throat. The Prince immediately asked the name 
Qf the original, when the young officer discovered that by mis- 



520 NEW KING AND HIS MOTHER. 

take lie had given the Prince the portait of the King of Den- 
mark's second daughter. When the mistake was explained, the 
Prince refused to return the photograph, and a few days later, on 
seeing a miniature of the same lady, in the Duchess of Cam- 
bridge's drawing-room, he declared there and then that he would 
marry only the original of these two pictures. 

" No doubt the Princes's ideas with regard to society were 
largely influenced by the visit he paid in i860 to Canada and the 
United States. His extreme delight at his first introduction to a 
purely democratic people had great results, and his sincere affection 
and admiration for the Americans date from the visit which he 
always recalls as one of the most delightful remembrances of a 
life that has been full of memorable experiences. 

DROPPED IN TO TEA. 

" While visiting the States the Prince proved himself to be 
both unaffected and unspoiled by his position. One of the 
pleasantest visits he paid was a quiet call at the house of Bishop 
McKinley, where he took tea with the Bishop and his wife and 
family and when ten years later, that eminent divine came to 
London, the Prince of Wales not only recognized him in the 
park, but invited him to Marlborough House and made a personal 
point of bidding the Bishop to a garden party the Princess was 
about to give. 

"It is commonly supposed that the Prince's admiration and 
encouragement supported the cult of the ' professional beauty.' 
The ladies who were known to the public by that term were many 
of them members of circles in which the Prince of Wales moved, 
but it is not generally known that when, after a time the Prince 
found that the profession of beauty was becoming scandalous in 
its vulgarity and advertisement, h.e decided to put a stop to the 
whole business by practically refusing to accept or to know those 
who were making a trade of their good looks. 

"The bazaar mania, and the ridiculous means resorted to by 
smart ladies and well known actresses to extort money from their 
patrons, also received a severe check from the Prince of Wales, 



NEW KING AND HIS MOTHER. 621 

who on one occasion was kind enongh to lend his personal patron- 
age to a great fancy fair, got up at the Albert Hall. In the 
course of the afternoon he honored the refreshment stall by his 
presence and asked for a cup of tea. The fair vender, thinking 
to amuse the Prince before handing him the cup, drank from it 
herself, saying : ' Now the cup of tea is five guineas ! ' The 
Prince gravely paid the money asked, handed back the tea, and 
said : ' Will you please give me a clean cup ? ' " 

Reference is made to the Prince's rigid observance of Sunday 
as a day of rest, and dealing with "the Prince as a churchman," 
the author says : 

" His views are decidedly broad, and he prefers that a service 
should be choral, and accompanied by due observance and dignity. 
Yet his admiration for the picturesque has never induced him to 
attend service in anything but an English church. The Prince 
was once in Rome at Easter, when people of every sect and 
religion were crowding into Roman Catholic churches, yet he 
went quietly into the plain little English church, remarking as 
he did so that when Church of England people were in Rome 
they should be more than usually particular to uphold their own 
form of faith." 

TAKES IN ALL ENTERTAINMENTS. 

The King rarely misses any play in London. Though he 
never expresses to the manager his disapproval of a play, he 
invariably lets it be known to those about him whether he likes or 
dislikes it. At one time the King was a most excellent dancer, 
but of late years he has done nothing more than walk through a 
quadrille. Invariably well dressed, he sets the fashion for the 
British public. 

He has a great aversion to the dinner jacket, except at 
Monte Carlo and Homburg. He once witnessed a play at the 
Criterion Theatre, in which an actor was wearing one of these 
jackets, and he expressed surprise to him afterward for doing so. 
The actor, in his defence, urged that in the play he was dining in 
his own house. The Prince said : " You forget that you are 



522 Nf'^V K[N(; AND HIS MOTHER. 

playing tlie part of a Cabinet Minister ; therefore you couldn't 
possibly wear such a garment." 

Tbe following account of scenes in London on the day follow- 
ing the Queen's deatli will be of interest to every reader : 

" The dominating note of this day on which the British 
Empire enters upon a new era after the Victorian age, which has 
already and forever been christened golden, is the terrible difB.- 
culty which people find of accepting the idea summed up in the 
phrase ' Le Roi est mort ! Vive le Roi ! ' ' The King (Queen) is 
dead ! Long live the King ! ' 

THE METROPOLIS IN MOURNING. 

" In order to try to give you some idea of what was going on 
in London on such a history making day, I wandered about to-day 
everywhere— to the East End, to the House of Commons. Every- 
where was the same feeling, whicli might thus be translated : 
' How can we reconcile our great sorrow ? ' Yes, there is no doubt 
as to that sorrow, which, to use Tennyson's words, is the 'Noise 
of mourning of a mighty nation,' with our universal desire to 
give a welcome to the new King in this great time of trial and 
responsibility. 

"Let me tell you as coming from one of the Privy Council- 
lors, who met to-day to go through the formality of administer- 
ing the oath at St. James' Palace, that the King said he was 
almost overcome by his feelings, and that this had been the most 
trying day in his life. I can quite believe it, for I happened to 
catch a good look at the new King as he drove from the Victoria 
station to Marlborough house. 

" Those of you who have been his friends and have seen him 
in normal times would liave been pained this morning to see the 
sad effect which the trials of the last few days have left upon him. 
The sleepless nights, deep anxiety and shadow of terrible 
responsibility such as he has had impending over him might 
unnerve a man far less highly strung than the man Avhom even 
to-day the people cannot get out of the habit of calling the Prince 
of Wales. 



NEW KING AND HIS MOTHER. ^ 523 

" The evening papers began to come out very early in the 
day. The first to appear somewhat startled Londoners by the 
unusual announcement, " The King is coming to London," 
printed in great letters on its display bills. Even then it was not 
known what the title of the new King would be. 

" After the King arrived St. James' street assumed the appear- 
ance of a levee day. From top to bottom it was crowded with 
carriages. The Lord Mayor, arriving in his state carriage, 
naturally attracted much attention from the crowd, which was so 
great that the way into Pall iMall was speedily blocked. Down 
the centre of St. James' street is a long cab rank. There, when 
the council began, were a lot of four wheel cabs, which remained 
stationary till all was over. 

PERCHED ON TOP OF CABS. 

"They were hired by persons who wanted to see the whole 
show, principally ladies, who boldly climbed upon the tops and 
remained there. It certainly looked strange to see these decor- 
ous appearing ladies, dressed in mourning, sitting on the cab 
roofs, but they were not the least disconcerted by the amount of 
attention they attracted. 

" The club windows and balconies down this street and also 
on Pall Mall were filled with members, anxious to see what was 
going on. Round about Marlborough House a dense crowd gath- 
ered and remained the best part of the day. It is no wonder the 
crowds were great, when one comes to think of the many large 
institutions which had taken a holiday as a token of sympathy. 
Among these were the Stock Exchange, the law courts, the police 
courts, Lloyds, the Baltic and so on. 

" London's outward and visible expressions of mourning were 
certainly none too impressive. The general sign in the shops 
was a somewhat extraordinary arrangement — just a black board 
placed perpendicularly on the plate glass window, certainly a 
very crude and unbeautiful symbol of grief Where so many 
black boards as were used for this purpose came from is a matter 
of wonder. Flags were everywhere to be seen at half-mast. 



524 NEW KING AND HIS MOTHER. 

"Hawkers sold mourning souvenirs witli an effigy of the 
Queen on a sort of large porcelain button, and black and white 
paper flowers. There were souvenir editions of the papers and 
piles of books a yard high giving the full and detailed life of the 
Queen. There were ample signs on all sides of a disposition to 
let the King understand that the people were prepared to receive 
him w4th full sympathy and confidence. 

" The St. James' Gazette, which has been having very fine 
editorials, after assuring the King that the restraint shown by 
the people was merely because they love the memory of their 
Queen, says : 

"Queen Victoria ascended the throne amid the enthusiastic 
hopes of her subjects, hopes which all the world now knows were 
more than amply fulfilled. We greet her illustrious son with 
more than hope, with well grounded confidence in the future. 

THANKSGIVING TO DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 

"He is known to us and we to him. Through the long 
years of trial he has proved finesse, even for so great an ordeal 
as wearing his mother's crown. A greater ordeal than this it 
would be impossible to impose on human shoulders in the midst 
■of our grief and his. Therefore, we tender him our respectful 
and loyal homage. We offer a thanksgiving to the Divine Provi- 
dence that the noblest monarch in the roll of our Kings for a 
thousand years is succeeded by a worthy son. 

" There was another meeting of the theatrical managers to 
arrange what to do, but the truth is that the matter of reopening 
is entirely in the hands of the Lord Chamberlain, who has juris- 
diction over every theatre in England in towns where there is a 
royal palace. The same rule applies to all places of public 
entertainment. Thus the theatres will not open until the Lord 
Chamberlain gives them leave. 

" Lord Clarendon sent a very courteous notice to the mana- 
gers, which stipulated that they should close the night of the 
Queen's death, and said that he would let them know when to 
open again. 



NEW KING AND HIS MOTHER. 625 

'' We weep for our Queen, but in the truest sincerity and 
wholehearted ferver we exclaim, ' God save the King ! ' 

" All through the day large floating crowds swept about town, 
rushing hither and thither, under the impression that the King 
was going to come out, Bxceptfor his visit to the Privy Council, 
at St. James' Palace, however, he remained at Marlborough 
House, with curtains drawn, working hard on the innumerable 
documents presented to him. 

GREAT CROWD AT THE MANSION HOUSE. 

"One report was that the King was going to the House of 
Lords, another that he was going into the city. The latter idea 
took such a hold that thousands of persons congregated around 
the Mansion House, apparently under the impression that the 
King would appear on the balcony and the proclamation be read 
at the same time. Naturally they were disappointed. All that 
really could be ascertained was that the King was going down to 
Osborne." 

The Westminster Gazette draws attention to a somewhat 
knotty point as to the title of Edward VII., taken by the King. 
There was no Edward VI. in Scotland, and therefore, for that 
country, |^can be no Edward VII. Possibly the King will be 
seventh of England and the first of Scotland. 

Edward I., son of Henry III., was born at Westminster, June 
17,1239; was crowned August 19, 1274, and died July 7, 1307. 
He reigned thirty-three years. 

Edward II., son of Edward I. ; was born April 25, 1284, and 
crowned February 23, 1308. Deposed by Parliament. Murdered 
at Berkeley Castle, September 21, 1327. He reigned nineteen 
years. 

Edward III., son of Edward II., born at Windsor, November 
13, 1312 ; was crowned February i, 1328, and died June 21, 1377. 
He reigned forty-nine years. 

Edward IV., son of Richard, duke of York ; born April 29, 
1441 ; crowned June 28, 1461, and died April 9, 1483. He reigned 
twenty-two years. 



626 NEW KING AND HIS MOTHER. 

Edward V., born November 4, 1470 ; was murdered June 22, 
1483, by bis uncle, tbe Duke of Gloster, wbo became Richard III. 

Edward VI., was tbe son of Henr}^ VIII ; born October 12, 
1537 ; was crowned February 25, 1547, and died July 6, 1553, at 
the age of 16. 

Edward VII., the new King of Britain, was born November 
9, 1 84 1. He is the son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of 
Saxe Coburg Saalfield, and came to the throne on the death of his 
mother, January 22, 1901. 

An English editor who was in our country at the time of the 
Queen's death thus summed up the events which were fraught 
with snch mighty consequences not only for Britain, but for 
America and the rest of the world : 

INTERNATIONAL BONDS STRENGTHENED, 

" I should like to say emphatically and at once that the 
splendid and sympathetic treatment of this great sorrow of ours 
by the American press will do more for international accord than 
all the utterances of politicians and the workings of diplomacy. 
You feel for us as we wept for you at the death of Lincoln and of 
Grant. 

''As one deeply interested in the binding together of the 
four hundred millions of British people, I cannot but realize that 
we have lost in our Queen a centre of imperial sympathy that 
did much for cohesion and unity. Could any more potent spell 
be divined for the union of divergent races that form our Empire 
than the personality of a good woman ? With 3^011 it has been 
your beautiful flag ; with us the noblest of women. 

" But the future has good in store for us. The world has 
passed from the realm of sentiment to the age of business, and in 
Edward VII we have one who is above all a man of affairs. 
Not enough is known on this side of the Atlantic of the marked 
aptitude of our King as a diplomatist, a negotiator and a hard- 
working business man. His only rival in this matter among the 
world's sovereigns is his nephew, William of Germany, and no 
one will gainsa}^ the fact that for discretion and tact Edward VII 



NEW KING AND HIS MOTHER. 527 

is more than a match for William 11. It bodes well for the 
world's peace that the friendship that has always existed between 
our King and many of your statesmen will, as the result of the 
Emperor's visit, now be firm between him and his German 

nephew. 

\ "The three nations do not always see eye and eye ; no treaty 
will ever link them, perhaps. But there will be that between 
them, it is to be hoped, which we of the work-a-day world know 
as a 'business understanding.' 

NEEDS NO SPECIAL TRAINING. 

"Edward VII needs no training for his office. For some 
years past all important foreign diplomatic despatches have been 
sent to Marlborough House as well as to the Queen, a precedent 
in English history. He has gathered about him in Sir Francis 
Knollys, Sir Stanley Clarke, Mr. Sydney Greville and others, 
accomplished and businesslike men, who have attended to vast 
correspondence and an infinite amount of office work in a manner 
that has given universal satisfaction to the Empire. As Prince 
of Wales, Edward VII showed on a score of occasions that prime 
essential of a born organizer, the instinct of choosing the right 



man. 



As a business people we need a business King, and we have 

the man we want." 

Mrs. George Cornwallis-West, formerly Lady Randolph 
Churchill, and, prior to her marriage. Miss Jennie Jerome, of 
New York, who had unusual opportunities of meeting Queen 
Victoria, wrote concerning her : 

" I have been asked to give my personal reminiscences of 

Oueen Victoria. So much has been written about Her Majesty 

:^such a hymn of praise has burst forth from the whole civilized 

"world— that even out of the fullness of one's heart, and had I one 

of the most eloquent of pens, it would be difficult to be anything 

but an echo. 

" Still, it may be interesting to my countrymen to hear even 
my small note joining in this harmonious paean as to her good- 



528 NEW KING AND HIS MOTHER. 

ness, a goodness that was felt by all her people, as her greatness 
was apparent to all nations. To the American, whose pulse beats 
quickly, and whose brain works in unison, the fulfillment of a 
high ideal, a noble life must appeal with irresistible force. 

"lam sure it is no exaggeration to say that the /American 
people have placed Queen Victoria on as high a pedestal of virtue 
as their imagination can build. It is not for me to dilate on the 
qualities of her unique greatness. These will be immortalized by 
history. Still, I cannot refrain from saying that the great theme of 
all was her knowledge of and sympathy with human nature. 

HER MAJESTY IN TEARS. 

" When Colonel Towse went to Windsor to receive the Vic- 
toria Cross for a valorous deed by which he lost his eye sight, 
those present have since told me that as he advanced, led by his 
wife, toward the Queen, tears poured down her aged cheeks, and it 
was in a broken voice that she spoke to him. Few at eighty-one 
could forget their own dim and failing eyes for the blind ones of 
others. The Queen may be counted on as one of the victims of 
the war. Bvery defeat, every unsuccessful skirmish, the loss or 
wounding of any brave soldier was personal to hen 

" When I had the honor of seeing Her Majesty at Windsor, 
in December, 1899, before leaving for South Africa in the 
American hospital ship Maine, she evinced the greatest interest 
in all the details and fittings of the ship, and particularly as to 
the history of the hospital staff, doctors and nurses, whom she had 
received a few days previously. Several times she repeated to me: 

" 'It is very good of the American people to subscribe for this 
ship, and I am most grateful to them for coming over and help- 
ing to take care of my sick and wounded.' 

"I had not seen her for some years, and the melody of her 
wonderful voice and the fascination of her marvellous smile again 
came as a revelation to me. The most commanding presence and 
regal beauty could not have had a more thrilling effect upon one 
than this small figure bowed down with sorrow and age." 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

The King in Magnificent State Opens Parliament. 

WITH the Kmg in his golden carriage going to Parliament, 
London awoke on February 14th, 1901, to find its dream of 
a week past about to become a reality. It was a bitterly cold 
morning with the promise of snow in the air, but for once nobody 
cared about such trifles as frozen pipes, an ill-prepared breakfast 
or prospect of biting wind. 

In fact, on the way to business men hurried to their offices 
and warehouses a little earlier than usual, rushed through the 
morning's mail, leaving all but pressing matters to wait till after- 
noon, and made all speed tow^ard the short line of march where 
royalty would pass. 

A SWARMING MULTITUDE. 

Long before the average city man had arrived, however, every 
point of vantage had already been taken up by the multitude who 
swarmed from north, south, east and west of the great city. 

" We can see it from here," early arrivals had said as they 
squeezed themselves into doorways, clung tenaciously to curb- 
stones or huddled close as sheep on the shelters at the street 
crossings. Those who came later found places as best they could 
behind the double rank of policemen and soldiers, who stood 
shoulder to shoulder guarding the wide expanse of cleanly swept 
street over which the golden carriage would roll. 

Police regulations stopping vehicular traffic in the streets ad- 
joining the route were superfluous; the crowd, which choked up 
every thoroughfare, made the official prohibition unnecessary. 
Sweeping up the slope of Whitehall from the Horse Guards to 
Trafalgar square, a compact throng filled every foot of standing 
ground, and still left an enormous crowd behind, to hurry and roll 
east or west in the hope of finding a convenient chink between the 
3* 529 



530 THE KING OPENS PARLIAMENT. 

surrounding buildings tlirougli whicli a glimpse of the golden car- 
riage might be obtained. 

Along Victoria street, over Westminster Bridge, spreading 
over St. James' Park and the Mall, wedged tight as nails on the 
sidewalk of Parliament street, blackening the steps of St. James' 
place, swarming up to the gardens of Carlton Terrace, clinging to 
lamp posts and trees, anywhere and everywhere that a peep was 
possible, were people, all satisfied to wait for hours on the chance 
of a single glimpse of the famous carriage. 

The heart of loyal England, London, throbbed in anticipation 
of the return of old-fashioned royalty such as the present genera- 
tion had only known from histories and picture books. Personal 
reverence for the late Queen was still abundantly in evidence in 
the mourning garb of the populace, but there was something quite 
different from the orthodox idea of royalty. Even the semi-glitter 
of drawing rooms which every spring attracted crowds to the 
vicinity of Buckingham Palace failed to satisfy the popular im- 
agination of the real pomp and estate of royalty. 

GREAT WAVE OF ENTHUSIASM. 

The vast crowds swelled and spread until the steps of the 
National Gallery became black with people, and a wave of enthu- 
siasm thrilled it to tiptoe expectation. The long-forgotten insignia 
of royalty, the golden carriage, was coming, and the clanging of 
church bells, which had drowned all other sounds for hours, was 
^suddenly punctuated with a dull boom. It was the royal salute 
being fired. 

The procession had started, and the golden carriage with its 
royal occupants was on its way. Peering over the sea of heads, 
the people in the distance saw the oasis in the empty street sud- 
denly hidden by haze from the wintry sunshine, and the momentary 
fear that it might pass without being seen sent a chill through the 
crowd, which had long since grown callous to the frosty air. 

The glittering helmets of the Life Guards at the head of the 
procession, visible over the shakos of the Grenadiers guarding the 
line, dispelled the instant's depression as quickly as it had been 



THE KING OPENS PARLIAMENT. 531 

caused. A bewigged coachman, seated on a purple hammer cloth, 
loomed into view. 

" Here it comes ! " exclaimed the eager watQhers, but the 
plain, enamelled coach top floating in the distance was surely not 
the great carriage itself. Another plain coach top, still another 
and another, and the people with official programmes told their 
neighbors that it must surely be the next, the fifth in the line. 

ROAR OF DISTANT CHEERS. 

A faint roar of distant cheers rolled backward over the crowd 
at the same moment that, sweeping around the curve from the 
Horse Guards into Whitehall, the roof of the golden carriage itself 
appeared, profuse in ornamentation, the footmen behind swaying 
and swinging like statues borne shoulder high in a religious pro- 
cession. A glint of sunshine illumined the gilded crown for a 
brief instant, but a moment later the helmets of the attendant Life 
Guards had swallowed up from view the royal equipage. That 
was all that the majority of the Londoners saw of the brilliant 
pageant. 

The lucky few who had succeeded in obtaining places on view- 
ing stands along the route had a rare spectacle to reward their 
patience. With them, as with the less fortunate spectators, every- 
thing, of course, centered on the royal carriage The bodyguard 
of red-coated guardsmen, followed by several carriages of State, 
each drawn by six cream colored horses, formed a goodly show in 
themselves. 

But towering above these in the distance was the golden car- 
riage — a gorgeous affair of plate glass and panels, surmounted by 
a roof as ornamental as a bride's cake, with golden lions, golden 
cherubs, and the golden crown above all. It was, indeed a casket 
worthy of its royal occupants. '' Cinderella's carriage," a little tot 
on one of the stands called it, and the childish criticism called 
forth no reproof from her elders. 

Inside the House of Lords the scene was really brilliant. The 
display of jewels was simply magnificent. When the members of 
the royal family began to arrive the electric light was turned on, 



532 THE KING OPENS PARLIAMENT. 

and an extra switcli was given as fhe King and Queen entered, tlie 
effect being brilliant in the extreme. 

The Queen looked lovely, and really younger than ever. 
Beneath her royal mantle of ruby velvet she wore a dress entirely 
of crepe. The ribbon of the Garter was placed most advantageously 
across the front of her bodice. Her Majesty and all the royal 
princesses wore high gowns right up to the throat, and long sleeves 
with little lace cuffs, but, as they wore all their orders and decora 
tions, the effect was not so sombre as might have been expected 
with so much crepe. 

All the royal ladies, too, wore the orthodox royal mourning, a 
Marie Stuart shaped cap of lisse, or something that looked rather 
like crepe. Surmounting this, the Queen wore the small diamond 
crown which the late Queen used to wear at drawing rooms and 
other great functions. The Duchess of Fife and Princess Charles 
of Denmark both wore diamond tiaras. So did the Duchess of 
York. Her tiara was a very high one, with great pearl points. 

GERMAN HEAD-DRESSES. 

Princess Christian and Princess Beatrice wore rather different 
forms of headdress to the other royalties, both being somewhat Ger- 
man in fashion. Princess Christian's looked more like a widow's 
cap of crepe, which was just lit up by a single riviere of diamonds,, 
but there were no brilliant stones on Princess Beatrice's head. 

As the King and Queen entered the latter's hand was resting 
on that of His Majesty. When he had assisted the Queen on to 
the throne the Mistress of the Robes, the Duchess of Buccleuchj 
Lady Suf&eld and Miss Knollys grouped themselves behind Her 
Majesty. 

King Bdward's speech at the opening of Parliament was as 
follows : — 

'* My Lords and Gentlemen : — 

" I address you for the first time at a moment of national sor- 
row, when the whole country is mourning the irreparable loss we 
have so recently sustained, and which has fallen with peculiar 
severity on myself. My beloved mother, during her long and glor- 



THE KING OPENS PARLIAMENT. 533 

ious reign, lias set an example before the world of wliat a monarch 
should be. It is my earnest desire to walk in her footsteps. 

" Amid this public and private grief it is satisfactory to me to 
be able to assure you that my relations with the other Powers con_ 
tinue friendly. 

" The war in South Africa is not yet entirely terminated, but 
the capitals of the enemy and his principal lines of communication 
are in my possession, and measures have been taken which will, I 
trust, enable my troops to deal effectually with the forces by which 
they are still opposed. 

" I greatly regret the loss of life and expenditure of treasure 
due to the fruitless guerilla warfare maintained by Boer partisans 
in the former territories of the two republics. Their early submis- 
sion is much to be desired in their own interests, as until it takes 
place it will be impossible for me to establish in those colonies the 
institutions which will secure the equal rights of all the white 
inhabitants and protection and justice for the native population. 

THE AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH. 

" The establishment of the Australian Commonwealth was pro- 
claimed at Sydney, January i,with many manifestations of popular 
rejoicing. My deeply beloved mother had assented to the visit of 
the Duke of Cornwall and York to open the first Parliament of the 
new Commonwealth. I have decided that the visit shall not be 
abandoned and shall be extended to New Zealand and the Dominion 
of Canada. 

'* The prolongation of the hostilities in South Africa has led 
me to make a further call on the patriotism and devotion of Canada 
and Australasia. I rejoice that my request has met with a prompt 
and loyal response. 

" The suffering and mortality caused by the prolonged drought 
in a large portion of my Indian Empire have been greatly alleviated 
by a seasonable rainfall, but I regret to add that in parts of the 
Bombay presidency distress of a serious character still continues. 

" Gentlemen of the House of Commons : — The estimates 
for the year will be laid before you. Every care has been taken to 



534 THE KING OPENS PARLIAMENT. 

limit their amount, but the naval and military requirements of the 
country, and especially the outlay consequent upon the South Afri- 
can war, has involved an inevitable increase. 

" The demise of the crown renders it necessary that renewed 
provision shall be made for the civil list. I place unreservedly at 
your disposal those hereditary revenues which were so placed by 
my predecessor, and I have commanded that the papers necessary 
for full consideration of the subject shall be laid before you. 

" My Lords and Gentlemen : — 

" Proposals will be submitted to your judgment for increasing 
the efficiency of my military forces. Legislation will be proposed 
to you for the amendment of the law relating to education, and for 
the purpose of regulating the voluntary sale by landlords to occu- 
pying tenants in Ireland. 

" I pray that Almightj^ God may continue to guide you in the 
conduct of your deliberations, and that He may bless them with 
success." 

THE ADDRESS IN REPLY. 

On the resumption of business in the House of Lords, tha 
Marquis of Waterford moved the address in reply. 

Lord Salisbury said the country could hope confidently that 
the promise of the King that he would follow in his mother's steps 
would be fully borne out. If so, it would be the greatest triumph 
for the principle of monarchy and the name of the British union 
Lord Salisbury thought there was nothing unusual in the length 
of the Boer war. He referred Lord Kimberley, who had spoken 
of the government as living in a fool's paradise, to the Americn 
war. It was four years before the efforts of that very intelligent 
and most efficient community, North America, were able to bring 
the civil conflict to a final and successful issue. 

In the House of Commons, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, 
the Liberal leader, after wishing the King and Queen a long and 
happy reign, asked the House to face the grave facts in -connection 
wdth the war. The question was, had the Government realized 
the circumstances and adequately provided for them ? He asked 



THE KING OPENS PARLIAMENT. 535 

if it was true tliat General Kitchener had asked for more troops 
eleven weeks ago. 

The House would not hesitate to vote anything necessary to 
clear Cape Colony of invaders, but, when that was accomplished, 
then was the moment to ofifer the Boers such terms as, while secur- 
ing for the Empire all they were contending for, would assuage 
their fears, save their dignity and restore their personal rights. 

King Edward, accompanied by Queen Alexandra, to-day in- « 
spected at Buckingham Palace 350 officers and men of Strathcona's 
Horse. His Majesty presented the regiment with the King's 
colors and gave medals to the men. A detachment of Guards held 
the lawn of the West Terrace, and the Canadians were drawn up 
in front of the Terrace. Colonel Samuel B. Steele, of Strath- 
cona's Horse, was presented to King Edward, who proceeded to 
inspect the regiment. 

ADDRESSED BY THE KING. 

Returning to the Terrace, the King handed a medal to Colonel 
Steele. Then the officers and men filed past a table, the King 
presenting each of them with a medal. The King's color was 
brought by an escort of Grenadier Guards to the foot of the steps 
and his Majesty presented it to the Canadian cavalrymen, saying 
it was the intention of his mother to present it to the regiment, 
and he now did so in her name and in his own. The color was 
borne to the regiment, the band playing " God Save the King." 

Afterwards the Canadians marched past, and the King, accomr 
panied by Lord Strathcona, advanced and addressed the troopers 
as follows : 

'^ Colonel Steele, Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, 
AND Privates : I welcome you here, to our shores, on your return 
from active service in South Africa. I know it would have been 
the earnest wish of my beloved mother, our revered Queen, to wel- 
come you. Alasl that was not to be. But be assured she deeply 
appreciated the services you have rendered, as I do. I feel sure 
that in entrusting the King's color to you. Colonel Steele, and 
those under you, you will always defend it and do your duty, as 



536 THE KING OPENS PARLIAMENT. 

you have done during the past year in South Africa, and will do 
so on all future occasions. I am glad Lord Strathcona is here 
to-day, as it is owing to him that this magnificent force was 
equipped and sent out. I can only hope 3^our short sojourn in 
England will be agreeable and that you will return safely to your 
homes, friends, and relations. Be assured that neither I nor the 
British nation will ever forget the valuable services you ■ have 
rendered in South Africa.'' 

Colonel Steele, thanking the King in behalf of the regiment, 
assured him that the people of Canada would always do as, well as 
Strathcona's Horse, if not better, and added that they v/ere " always 
ready to defend the flag, the King, and the rights of the British 
Empire." 

After three cheers for the King, the officers were presented to 
his Majesty, who shook hands with and thanked each of them. 
The colors presented to Strathcona's Horse is a silken standard 
with a silver plate on the staff, bearing an inscription showing the 
King presented it to the corps. 



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